Christian Brothers High School • Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve
A MESSAGE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENT PROGRAM As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. If we sit back and think about the work our students, families, teachers, staff and administrators do every day at Christian Brothers High School, I believe you might agree that we work toward the same goal. We are, in fact, a community, a village if you will, all contributing to the growth and success of those that choose to come to CB. And so it is for our International Student Program at CB. For these students from other countries, their village is a bit different from the rest of the CB students. Though the world is now digitally connected, and communication around the world makes travel and living abroad easier, the fact remains that our International students are living on foreign land, learning their curriculum in a foreign language, and mixing into a foreign culture. To add to that, they are living with American families that have chosen to open their homes and lives to them; there are adjustments to be made there too. These host families generally have a child that is a student on our CB campus. There are some host families that decided to host an international student even though their own child has already graduated from CB. I am humbled by these families, all of them, for the challenge they’ve accepted and the care they give to our international students. I’ve asked our host families to describe their hosting experience so that I could look for trends and patterns, as well as improve the off-campus portion of our program. Of course, they responded and gave me positive and constructive feedback. I’m incorporating what I can into an ISP handbook and my procedural manual, so that our ISP program at Christian Brothers will continue to grow and thrive. The Laffan family (Caedan ’17, Connor ’18, Cooper ‘19) have been hosting Stephen ‘17 from China and Nick ‘18 from Germany. “Hosting has been an incredible experience for our family. I feel that it has brought so much awareness about other cultures. It has allowed my kids to get an idea of what it’s like to live with others, which I consider very important as they prepare for college. It creates a need to be tolerant of things that aren’t familiar to you, as well as the opportunity to teach others about things you may take for granted. In my home, I feel that these teaching moments have helped us all to realize how fortunate we are and they remind us to be more appreciative overall.”
The Dillon family (Maggie ’11) are in their third year of hosting; their second year for Yuki ‘17 of Japan and Mars ‘17 from China. “Hosting is a rewarding experience and I would recommend it to anyone. Helping to make the world a better place by shrinking it is what international student programs are all about. We love these guys and want them to have as regular a high school experience as possible. We feel we need to treat them as our own.” The Mathisons (Emma ’18) currently host Julia (’17) from South Korea and Yueyou (’18) from China. “We are happy to support the program! We feel much benefit from our participation as a host family. Our objective was to enrich our global awareness, while providing an opportunity for a youth to gain a better education; but I feel we’ve gained so much more. There are many ups. My very favorite thing about having ISP kids in the house is the camaraderie and the laughter that comes from not taking oneself too seriously. I feel that our participation is one of the best things we have provided for our daughter. We have three girls, none of whom have sisters, living together as sisters. It’s joyful to observe them interacting, having makeovers and talking about boys, and collectively turning up their noses at some ideas. I love that they understand fundamentally that people are personalities, not packages. They see in one another that feelings are universal, regardless of culture, color, or upbringing.” We currently have twenty-three families hosting our students from around the world. The responsibility that they’ve all accepted is large, but our ISP students and host families are merging their languages, cultures and personalities with such grace and acceptance of one another. Here at CB, we are truly living in a global society, and as a global “village” doing all we can to do help ALL of our students succeed. As we begin 2016, may we all continue to embrace and cherish the diversity and the gifts therein that Christian Brothers offers all of us – students, teachers, staff, administrators and families alike. Let us continue to be the example of acceptance for all.
JANUARY 2016
SPRING SEMESTER Christian Brothers High School Monthly Newsletter
www.cbhs-sacramento.org
INSIDE
International Student Program Director
Counseling and Guidance Lasallian Student Life - Campus Ministry - Christian Service - Student Activities
Athletics Media Visual and Performing Arts Vocations Falcon Family Faces