6 minute read
Youth Exchanges Benefit Everyone
Members Have Parts to Play in Expanding Horizons
BY JAKE TEN PAS
As any world traveler can attest, monetary exchange rates aren’t generally one to one — but as anyone familiar with student exchange programs knows, the goal is to have an equal number of participants going both directions. is striving for parity is meant to ensure that the countries involved contribute and benefit equally, and that the swapping of experiences and cultures goes both ways.
For those who’ve opened up their homes to make strangers from faraway lands feel welcome and connected while studying in Portland, worrying about what they’re getting back from the experience seems to be the last thing on their minds.
As chair of the Youth Services Program for the Portland Pearl Rotary Club, MAC member Chris Freeman says he speaks with his fellow Rotarians every week and has accrued plenty of anecdotal evidence to back this up.
“One retired couple thought they were too old to host a high school student. They thought, what could they offer him? It ended up being one of the most fulfilling and fun things they have done,” he relays. “Another family said their younger kids made a lifelong friend from France, like a brother, and experienced a different culture. They even told me that the screen time dropped while hosting the student!”
Freeman goes onto list additional upsides, including flexibility in the duration of a student’s stay, which reduces the commitment for their host family and provides more variety of experience for the guest. Plus, he sees value in gaining firsthand knowledge, as opposed to forming ideas about di erent cultures based on the news or other sources.
Said student was one of two that Portland Pearl Rotary sponsors each year — one each in-bound and out-bound — allowing Lincoln High School to send a student abroad who otherwise might not be able to go. Overall, Lincoln has 10 spots open in the fall for in-bound exchange students, which means 10 of its students get to return the favor.
“This is is an important part of our International Baccalaureate model,” says LHS Principal and MAC member Peyton Chapman. Her family has hosted students and teachers from Spain, China, Iraq, Togo, Benin, and Italy. “We have learned so much about a variety of cultural norms, and different and similar ways of life from these visits. There’s no better way to build global ties, goodwill, and friendship than by hosting a foreign exchange student.”
This year, member spouses Dr. Stephen Heitner and Dr. Emma Scott are hosting French student Gabriel Bobard as part of the program, and both hosts and guest are acting as able ambassadors for their respective realms.
“We hoped that Gab would enjoy being part of a family with sisters and in the neighborhood where Lincoln is. He has friends at school and can easily hang out after school, often at the MAC playing basketball or working out,” Scott says. “We have dinner almost every night together and enjoy cooking and talking. Gab has no pets in his home and loves our dogs and cat.”
Heitner and Scott, along with their two daughters, are immigrants from South Africa who say they’ve felt the sense of both being foreigners and also integrated into this city and country. Scott was a Rotary exchange student and still recalls the responsibility of representing her country, as well as the freedom and excitement of spreading her wings internationally. Last year, her oldest daughter, Isabella, spent a summer in Argentina, where her Spanish improved exponentially. This year, her youngest, Juliette, has been showing the family’s guest around LHS.
Bobard, who’s been able to access the MAC through the family’s membership, was motivated to come to the U.S. to work on his English, among other reasons, because he says it’s very important in France if you want to get a good job. While the language proved challenging at rst, which made it harder to connect with fellow students, he kept at it, meeting kind, patient people who helped him along.
“I think Portland is a very good city for an exchange because everybody is open minded,” he opines. “The weather can be a problem for some people, but it’s very close with what I have in my city in France, so it’s not a problem for me.”
Bobard adds that there’s nothing like MAC in the small town where he grew up. “I have never seen something like it before in my life — you can have everything you need and think about.”
Talking to those who’ve taken part in cultural exchanges often elicits this con uence of similarities and differences, which gets to the heart of what makes travel so compelling. Variety is the spice of life, and commonalities across culture connect people in new ways they might not expect.
“Being internationally minded and open to cultural exchanges are the keys to enhancing positive relations with people and communities from all around the world,” Scott says. “At this time, it is of utmost importance to see the beauty in diversity, to find common ground with fellow human beings, and to remain curious and open minded. Traveling and hosting exchange students really provides these opportunities.”
Freeman backs this up. “With all the media noise around global relations, anyone who is involved with an exchange program always expresses how it changes their views, perceptions, and appreciations for the di erent cultures. This includes the families that host the student.”
He also points out that there’s currently a significant shortage of host families to support the demand of exchange students. Due to the best practice of hosting a student for every one sent abroad, it’s important for local households to step up and open their doors.
“There are multiple opportunities across Portland for students to go abroad for a school year. Many programs are fully funded, which creates a unique opportunity for a family that may not have the means to travel and expose their child to a di erent culture. Without a family in Portland to receive a student, this cannot happen,” Freeman says.
“MAC members are so generous, and this is a great way to give back to the community. Many of them were once exchange students themselves, and they will tell you that the experience was a foundation for their personal development and created a global perspective that they carry forward 50-plus years later.”
Want to learn more about being a host family? Go to portlandpearlrotary.org/contact to learn more.
