Waupaca Breakfast Rotary Club

Hosting

At the core of any successful youth exchange program is the host family. Our goal is for each of our students to have 3 different family experiences. It is not necessary that these families be Rotary Club members.

Host family responsibilities: As a Rotary Youth Exchange host family, it is your responsibility to provide room and board for your exchange student. You are also expected to exercise general parental supervision over the student just as you would your own children, and involve him or her in daily household chores and activities.

However, most host families' involvement with their student does not stop at room and board. The families often share their native background while also learning about their visitors' culture. This does not mean that you have to arrange elaborate entertainment, but simply make the student a part of your family. Give him or her the opportunity to share in the same aspects of your family life that most teenage students experience in your culture.

Other suggested host family responsibilities include:

• Meeting your exchange student on arrival in your country and making the student feel at home as part of the family.
• Helping the student achieve language mastery.
• Involving the student in obligations similar to those established for your own family members.
• Helping the student meet Rotary obligations, which usually include attending Rotary functions, including club and/or district meetings.
• Seeing that the student meets other young people.
• Providing a safe environment for the student and ensuring the student's safety.
• Being tolerant of differences and willing to change your own ideas.

Please be aware that Rotary has recently modified its policies to further protect all of our exchange students. Background checks must be conducted for all adults who will have unsupervised contact with our students. This includes host parents, and other adult residents of the host home (including siblings and other family members).

If you are interested in hosting a student, please send an email to Sandy Testin.