In today’s global economy, hosting promotes American culture to students, future leaders of other countries
Every year, students from all around the world participate in academic exchange programs that allow them to study for a set period of time at other educational institutions, most times in a different country.
Dedicated to fostering cultural enrichment and inter-cultural understanding through student exchange programs, World Heritage, a nonprofit public benefit organization, provides academic year, semester and short-term exchange programs in the United States for high school-age students from around the world.
Originally founded in 1980, then known as “Spanish Heritage,” World Heritage focused mainly on Hispanic culture but has since expanded to embrace many other nations.
Many overseas students choose the US as their destination sometimes because of its location to their own home country but mostly because it’s a chance to experience the American way of life, explore its diverse culture, and to participate in its educational system. World Heritage also sponsors outbound exchanges for US students who want to experience another culture.
World Heritage students are girls and boys aged 15 years to 18. Host families are able to choose whether they prefer to host a girl or boy. They are also expected to exercise supervisory and parental responsibility to ensure the student’s wellbeing, Other requirements include providing a quiet place in the home for study, their own bedroom preferably, three meals a day and a willingness to treat the host student as part of the family.
Joe Ward of Spring Hill is the newly appointed area representative for World Heritage and will cover Hernando County and parts of Citrus and Pasco counties. His responsibilities are to recruit and screen prospective host families, interview students to study abroad and supervise visiting exchange students in their community.
“Student exchange programs are the perfect opportunity for students to immerse themselves in a different culture, expand their knowledge and their worlds and foster mutual understanding and respect,” said Ward.
“And it’s not just students who benefit,” he added. “Hosting a foreign exchange student can bring a fresh perspective to what it’s like to live in another part of the world. By opening up your heart and your home, you will be giving an exceptional young person the opportunity of a lifetime — to live with your family and experience firsthand the language, customs and culture of the US.”
World Heritage exchange students pay for their own round-trip airfare and provide their own complete medical and liability insurance coverage. Spending money is the responsibility of the students and their natural parents.
“A host’s most important contribution comes from the heart,” said Ward. With a willingness to welcome a student to your country and into your home by making him or her feel like a true member of the family.”
“Making that decision is a big one,” Ward added. “ It’s all about spending time with a bright young student from another part of the world.”
Before becoming an American host family, the families and students receive information about one another ahead of time. That includes descriptions of each family, hobbies, studies and place of residence. World Heritage encourages that you break the ice by writing your new “son or daughter” before his or her arrival.
All students are carefully screened by our overseas offices. Students are selected on the basis of their high academic standing, good nature and adaptable manners, and their curiosity and sense of adventure. The students who are accepted into the World Heritage program radiate their enthusiasm for learning about a whole new way of life.
If you’re interested in hosting a World Heritage exchange student, call Joe Ward at 352.573.7809 for more information.
World Heritage, affiliated with and operated under the sponsorship of ASSE International, is granted full listing by the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET) and is a member of the Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange. Visit world-heritage.org
Sue Quigley writes regularly for the Hernando Sun. She can be reached at [email protected] or at 727.247.6308.
