Exchange students need hosts

Tuesday, 29 December 2009 12:38

Foreign high school students are scheduled to arrive soon for academic semester homestay programs, and Pacific Intercultural Exchange (P.I.E.) needs a few more local host families.

According to John Doty, P.I.E. president, the students are all between the ages of 15 and 18 years, are English-speaking, have their own spending money, carry accident and health insurance, and are anxious to share their cultural experiences with their new American families.

P.I.E. area representatives match students with host families by finding common interests and lifestyles through an informal in-home meeting. Prospective host families are able to review student applications.

Families who host for P.I.E. are also eligible to claim a monthly charitable contribution deduction on their itemized tax returns for each month they host a sponsored student.

For the upcoming programs, P.I.E. has students from Germany, the Former Soviet Union, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Hungary, Korea, Mexico, Australia, China, and others. P.I.E. is also participating in two special government-funded programs to bring scholarship students from the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union, as well as predominantly Islamic countries such as Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Kuwait, Iraq and Qatar to the United States.

P.I.E. is a non-profit educational organization that has sponsored more than 25,000 students from 45 countries since its founding in 1975. The organization is designated by the United States Department of State and is listed by the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET).

Doty encourages families to contact the program immediately, as it will allow the proper time for the students and hosts to get to know one another before they actually meet for the first time.

Families interested in learning more may call 866-546-1402.