Two years ago, Falcon residents Bob and Lente Ouellette opened their home to a teen-age boy from South Korea named Young Min, and last year they hosted a girl from Russia. Both students came to the Ouellettes through the Council on International Educational Exchange.”It’s like bringing the country to you,” said Lente Ouellette, adding that it’s unlikely she will ever be able to visit South Korea or Russia. “It’s been a learning experience for our kids. We’ve learned about an area of the world we didn’t know much about.”Although they had to share their bedrooms, the three Ouellette kids like hosting foreign students. Her youngest daughter quickly started calling them her “big brother and big sister,” Ouellette said.”We would do it again in a heartbeat,” she said, but this year the family’s focus is on finishing the basement, causing her kids great disappointment.The Ouellettes became a host family by accident. A friend who has hosted students referred them to Sandy Sparks, an area coordinator for the CIEE. Sparks needed to find a host family for Min on a week’s notice because of an emergency.Sparks, who lives in Calhan, said most placements are planned months in advance.She meets with prospective host families and tries to match the interests of the family with the interests of the students.”I’m looking for good people who are willing to open their homes to the students and take them as one of their own children,” Sparks said.She recently placed a girl from Russia with a couple that doesn’t have children. “The girl likes art, and the husband is an artist. The girl plays guitar, and the husband has guitars,” Sparks said. “So many things fell into place with them. They’re so excited to meet her. That’s how I try to match families.”Before the students come to the states, Sparks holds a barbeque for the area’s host families so they can get to know each other. A few weeks after the students arrive, she hosts another party where the students prepare dishes from their native countries. At the end of the school year, she hosts another barbeque so everyone can say goodbye.The CIEE requires all of the exchange students to go to school and participate in at least 16 hours of community service. Each student has health insurance and spending money. Host families are required to provide their student with a place to sleep, as well as breakfast and dinner, Sparks said.In addition to her role as the area coordinator, Sparks has hosted students from Japan, Thailand, Palestine, South Korea and Germany. She has formed strong bonds with all of them, she said.At the end of the school year, the parents of their German student, Julia, came to the United States and stayed with the Sparks for several weeks. The two families toured the Grand Canyon and California together.When the CIEE sent Sparks to Germany for two weeks, she stayed with Julia’s parents, who showed her around their country. “When I left, Julia’s parents hugged me and cried and said, ‘It’s our turn to come back to America.’ So they’re coming back next summer,” she said.Visiting Germany gave Sparks insight into how her foreign students feel when they come to the United States.”These kids come here for 10 months, to a totally different way of life. We think it’s no big deal, but it is,” she said. “The shopping is different; the food is different. It made me more sympathetic to them coming here and going through a whole year of changing their lives.”I’m amazed at the families who send their children to our country for 10 months, to people they don’t even know; and, with the hope that these people will love their children and treat them as their own.”For Sparks, who has three grown children and 10 grandchildren, hosting has become a family affair. “My family is totally involved,” she said. “My oldest daughter has had two students from Thailand.”When the Sparks extended family gets together, the kids and grandkids easily interact with the students. “They become part of the family,” she said. “What you give to them is what they give back.”Simla resident CenÈ Kurtchi is the CIEE’s regional director for the West Coast. She started hosting 10 years ago and has had students from Ukraine, China, Brazil, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Greece.”I’m so passionate about this program because it’s the best tool of diplomacy,” she said. “CIEE started with Japanese and German students to heal our nations after World War II.”The kids live with us as Americans and see who we really are, and they go home with a different view. These kids come to love us. I’ve got kids all over the world now.”Like Sparks, Kurtchi has forged strong bonds with her students. Her first student was from China, and she is coming for a visit in August. It’s been 10 years since Kurtchi has seen her. “She was a concert pianist and only 15 when she was here,” she said.The CIEE has separate programs for high school and college students, as well as a scholarship program.Each year, about 50,000 students apply for a CIEE scholarship to come to the United States, and only about 1,000 are accepted, Kurtchi said.”The students go through a four-month application and interview process, including writing essays, getting teacher recommendations and taking tests. They’re chosen for their maturity, references, essays and potential as future leaders,” she said. “They spend a year here, and when they return, they work for two years as an alumni with Peace Corps volunteers.”Today, about 200 diplomats are former exchange students, Kurtchi said.”The program has been so successful; it’s been extended to the Middle East. I placed a young man from Yemen in Simla,” she said.”He was the most wonderful kid, but we had a hard time finding him a home. He really opened up a lot of communication with the community,” Kurtchi said. “He went to a Christian church with his host family, and he talked about his Muslim religion. People learned there are more similarities than differences.”Almost any type of family can be a host family, and they don’t necessarily need to have children in high school, Sparks said.Middle school children often blend well because they look up to the foreign student.Sparks once placed a girl from the Czech Republic with a single mom. Because the Czech student helped her daughter with homework, her daughter’s grades went from “bad” to “really good,” Sparks said.”It’s a great experience to open up your home and your heart to these kids and learn from them as much as they learn from you.”Kurtchi and Sparks are available to talk about CIEE’s programs. To learn more about the program, contact Kurtchi or Sparks at 866-444-0336 and 651-7418, respectively. Visit www.ciee.org.
