Right after a yr off owing to uncertainty about the coronavirus, Bartlesville Superior College will commence accepting foreign exchange pupils yet again in the 2021-22 school yr.
“The decision was built past summer season not to host foreign trade students this calendar year because of a lot of unknowns with commencing a faculty yr during a pandemic,” stated Principal LaDonna Chancellor. “We failed to know if we would have in-particular person courses or digital lessons, or if learners would have chances to attend university situations.”
It turns out the Bartlesville university district’s prepare for slowing the spread of the coronavirus has been highly successful, she claimed.
The significant university has held in-particular person courses for all but just one week of the very first semester, and faculty functions have ongoing in a restricted capability.
“Looking ahead to future year we truly feel confident we can guidance foreign trade college students and present an in-particular person discovering experience with opportunities to show up at faculty gatherings — even if they are not in the classic formats we savored prior to the pandemic,” Chancellor claimed. “With that in head, we are happy to host overseas exchange learners once more starting this fall.”
Laci Davis, a regional coordinator with Intercontinental Cultural Exchange Solutions (ICES), is enthusiastic about the program’s return.
“My partner and I starting up internet hosting exchange students in 2016. That similar calendar year we begun functioning for ICES since we fell in enjoy with the complete expertise,” she mentioned. “We imagined we would host a university student, give them a home and teach them about our tradition.”
But the practical experience turned out to be so a great deal much more than she and her husband could have imagined, Davis claimed.
“We understand as a great deal from these college students as they do from us and they develop into section of our spouse and children for everyday living. We now have sons and daughters all about the globe, and we system to proceed internet hosting as extended as we are equipped,” she claimed.
In her coordinator role with ICES, Davis finds Bartlesville families willing to host an exchange pupil for the university year and then matches them with a student who suits with their family members values and passions.
During the school yr, she offers assist to each the university student and relatives and makes certain the home is a harmless, loving environment in which the students can prosper.
“There is a false impression about what a host loved ones should really look like. Some people today imagine they simply cannot do it unless of course they have teenagers at house,” Davis claimed. “Even so, just about any loved ones dynamic is effective for hosting.”
Empty-nesters, people with teens, households with younger little ones, couples with no children or even solitary mother and father might use to grow to be a host household. Host family members undergo a thorough interview approach and should pass a background check before becoming matched with a college student.
“But what we’re hunting for is a family members who can offer a loving residence and treatment for a pupil just like they would their own youngster,” Davis said. “It is an remarkable opportunity simply because we have this kind of a culturally accepting neighborhood and school, and the trade learners thrive in the surroundings at BHS.”
Family members intrigued in web hosting an exchange scholar might contact Davis at [email protected] or stop by the ICES site at icesusa.org.
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