The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

By Tanya Patton

I have always admired families who open their homes to host international exchange students, but I never imagined that my family would be one of them! Now, I look back on the last 10 months spent hosting one, and then TWO teenagers from Asia and know that we will be forever changed and blessed by the experience.

Our road to hosting began with a friendship forged between our daughter, Katie, and Hazel Tu, an exchange student from Taiwan living in Dayton during the 2016-17 school year. Hazel played basketball with Katie, so we often gave Hazel rides home after practice and games. Rides home turned into day trips with our family and lots of time spent doing whatever teenage girls do when they are together. Katie cried a bucket-load of tears when Hazel went home to Taiwan, and they promised each other that they would stay in touch, which they still do.

Evidently, before she left, Hazel recommended our family as potential hosts to International Student Exchange (ISE), the company that facilitated her program in America. They are always looking for new host families (see sidebar). Two of our four children were independent adults by then and the house was feeling a little empty with just two teenagers at home, so we decided to submit an application. Yes, an application.

International Student Exchange is very thorough in its vetting of potential host families. A background check was completed. We wrote a letter of introduction, attached pictures of family members and answered many questions about our family's rules, expectations, internet availability and curfew, as well as questions about Dayton and the high school.

Pictures of key rooms in our house were required to verify that we had all the "basics" needed to offer a safe, sanitary and comfortable home for a student. We were happy to provide all this information because we would want the same if we sent one of our children abroad to live with a family we didn't know.

Once our application was accepted in late July, we were able to review the applications of several students who were still looking for a host family. We poured over the personal letters of introduction from each student and their parents. We took in every detail of the pictures each student included in their application and read the letters of recommendation from teachers.

Honestly, the selection process was both fun and slightly nerve wracking. It was fun to read about the aspirations, interests and accomplishments of young people willing and eager to dive head first into life in America. And it was nerve wracking, because we were making a 10 month commitment to a student we had only met on paper. As it turned out, we could not have chosen a more perfect addition to our family.

Ing Phoolpipat celebrated her 16th birthday in America, less than one month after arriving in Dayton from Nonthaburi, Thailand (population 270,000). Nonthaburi is considered part of the Bangkok metropolitan area, which is home to over 8 million people. She wanted to come to America for all the "standard" reasons – to experience American culture, education, and to improve her English language skills. Her application letter said that she liked reading, art, fashion and shopping. We found her to be kind, intelligent, self-disciplined and polite beyond measure.

In Thailand, she attended a reputable all-girls private boarding school, where the rules were strict and the schoolwork demanding. Her life was ordered by an inflexible schedule from daylight to dark.

Her daily life in America could not have been more different. She was initially shocked by how small Dayton and the high school were, as well as the fact that our home is located seven miles rom town and surrounded by cropland. It took a couple of weeks for her to understand and accept our VERY limited, satellite-dependent internet service at home.

She enrolled as a sophomore at Dayton High School and was instantly well-liked by her classmates. One of her favorite memories is being elected sophomore homecoming princess.

At her school in Thailand, students compete to see who can turn in the most perfect and beautiful homework. Ing continued that same focus and attention to detail here in America. Learning new languages is of special interest to her, so she enrolled in first-year Spanish. I can't begin to comprehend the brain power required to learn a foreign language while receiving instruction in a different foreign language!

In January, we received a call from ISE asking if we would host another student, a 17 year old young man from South Korea named Mireu Seo. His placement in New Jersey had fallen through at the last minute and he needed a host family immediately. We included Ing in the family meeting and decided to fill the empty bunk bed in our son Walter's room.

Mireu had decided to discontinue his education at a very exclusive and competitive boarding school in Busan, South Korea in favor of coming to America to prepare himself to pursue his dream of studying engineering at a top-tier Ivy League university. He has friends from Australia and Canada, so his very proficient English has an interesting and unique "twang" at times.

Mireu enjoys learning and conversing about a wide variety of topics. He is keenly interested in the intersection of technology, science and business, and someday hopes to be the CEO of his own company. In Busan, his school day began at 8 a.m. and ended at 11:30 p.m. Students were required to study at that pace nearly 7 days a week in order to succeed. Mireu decided to step away from the stress just before his senior year. His one-year program in America is giving him the opportunity to define his own unique life path while improving his English at the same time.

Ing returned to her family and school in Thailand on June 15. Missing her is still fresh for all of us, and I'm sure that Katie cried TWO buckets of tears this time.

Mireu will attend a different school in a different town this fall. His one-year program allows him a bit more flexibility. Our family has been forever changed by the experience of hosting these two remarkable young people. I'm sure they won't be the last!

If you are interested in hosting an exchange student, or simply want to learn more about it, visit http://www.iseusa.org, or call the area representative, Cindy Ethington, at (509) 760-2914.

Host families do not receive payment from either ISE or the exchange student for providing room and board. However, all school fees and personal spending money are the responsibility of the student.