Host Families Sought for Exchange Students

Two international exchange programs are looking for San Fernando Valley families to host eight foreign students who plan to attend area high schools this year.

World Learning Inc., an organization that links exchange students with host families, hopes to place students from Germany and the former Soviet Union with Valley families from Sunday through the end of the school year in June. The students are ages 15 through 18.

The organization needs families to provide accommodations for four of the 13 German students participating in the Congress-Bundestag Scholarship, an exchange program of the U.S. Congress and its German equivalent, the Bundestag.

Four additional students participating in the Future Leaders Exchange, a U.S. government-funded outreach program with the former Soviet Union, also need housing.

“These programs are truly special,” said Catherine Kelsey, local coordinator for World Learning. “Families and high school students will have a chance to learn firsthand about the challenges faced by teens in places like Russia, Armenia, Ukraine and the former East Germany.”

The organization also needs families to provide room, board and an introduction to American culture, said Kelsey, who as a high school and college student in France participated in an exchange program in England.

“They are good kids and good students who are really focused on their studies,” Kelsey said. “They want to make this work.”

All of the students are proficient in English and have undergone a rigorous application and screening process, Kelsey said.

About 37,000 students applied for the 17 openings in the Valley, she said.

Families interested in more information about hosting a student may call Kelsey at (818) 360-0924.