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Davis Journal

Bring the world to you by hosting an international exchange student

Feb 01, 2022 02:40PM ● By Karmel Harper

Mark Twain said, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." 

In 1946, U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright embraced Twain's view when he founded the Fulbright program, one of the most widely recognized and prestigious scholarships in the world. The program selects students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists, and artists who may receive scholarships or grants to study, conduct research, teach, or exercise their talents abroad; and citizens of other countries may qualify to do the same in the United States. Fulbright said, "The Fulbright Program's mission is to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason, and a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship." 

This endeavor became a priority during the aftermath of the Second World War in conjunction with the establishment of the United Nations to promote peace and understanding through educational exchange. "Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations," said Fulbright. The Fulbright program led to other educational exchange programs and tremendous growth of international students in the U.S. over the last 70+ years. Migrationpolicy.org said, "Beginning with just 26,000 international students in the 1949-50 school year, the number of students neared 1.1 million in 2019-20." 

Kaysville resident Summer Gale Van Wagoner is an exchange coordinator for Education First High School Exchange Year (EF), an organization bringing international students to the U.S. since 1979. Van Wagoner works with high schools and host families in Weber, Davis, and Salt Lake counties to match them with international students from Europe and Asia. Van Wagoner's family hosted a student for the first time in 2016 when they lived in Las Vegas. Simona was Romanian but was living in Italy when she joined the Van Wagoner family for a school year. As Van Wagoner spoke Italian due to her LDS Italy mission, she easily communicated with Simona. Her own five children, ages 2 - 9, looked up to Simona, who was 17 at the time. Van Wagoner said, "She was like a princess to them." 

EF celebrates the diversity of American families and places international students with families of all shapes and sizes, including single-parent households, empty nesters, and same-sex couples. EF guidelines state, "Host families provide the exchange student with room and board, and are expected to treat their student as a member of a family, not as a guest. The essential obligations of a host family are to provide room and board and basic necessities. Exchange students cover their own travel costs, health insurance, school expenses, cell phone, and spending money." Host families are not compensated monetarily to ensure that they are participating in the program for the right reasons. However, in recognition of their role as citizen ambassadors, host families may be eligible for a charitable tax deduction. 

Van Wagoner currently oversees 11 exchange students in Utah from France, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, and Holland. The Van Wagoners are now hosting 17-year-old Teike, who is from Holland. Teike is like a best friend to Van Wagoner's 16-year-old daughter, Mia, and even the youngest Van Wagoners, 11-year-old Kael, and 9-year-old Declan said, "It is fun having Teike with us…especially since she evened out our numbers at Disneyland." Teike said, “I have loved seeing all the landmarks in Utah, and sharing my culture with my American family.” 

Teike's own family traveled to Utah over the holidays, so the two families enjoyed some quality time together, really embracing the spirit of international friendship and cultural exchange. 

If you are interested in becoming a host family for an international student, you can contact Van Wagoner via this link: http://efexchangeyear.org/iec/summer-van-wagoner