It’s almost time for the start of the 2024-2025 school year in the Castle Country Area. Along with that comes the need for host families for foreign exchange students looking to spend the academic year immersed in American culture. Adele Justice from the Aspect Foundation sat down with Castle Country Radio to talk about the Cultural Exchange program from the foundation that is looking to secure hosts for this year’s batch of students.
Justice first spoke on what a host family needs to provide to the students,” So our host families are volunteers, and they provide three meals. That doesn’t mean they have to cook in the kitchen three times a day. That means they just have to have something that the student can make for their breakfast, something they can make for lunch, even a sack lunch for school is fine, and then dinner. Some families have dinner all together, and some families are a little more flexible. So just as long as they’re providing food for the students to eat.” Justice continued,” The student needs to have its own bedroom, or it can share a bedroom with a host sibling that’s within a few years of its age. But the requirements for a bedroom are they need to have a permanent bed, no blowup mattresses, cots or anything like that. And they need to have a place to study and do their homework, which can also be their bedroom. And they need to be able to just provide a loving, friendly, fun environment for the student.”
However, some deadlines are coming up for some of these students that could drastically impact their plans to come to America, with some being as soon as Monday, July 29. “Some of the kids, if they don’t meet that deadline Monday, they can defer a little bit but that means they would come in September instead of coming for that first part of school … But it’s still important that these kids find families and find homes. This is their only chance of coming. So if they don’t get families this year then they probably won’t get to come another year because of the scholarship and the way that is based.” Justice explained,” There are still several openings here in Carbon County. One in Emery County and I do have a few in Springville and one out in Duchesne. So if you know people in that area, you can certainly refer them to us.”
One perk of the Aspect Foundations referral program is that if the family you refer does choose to host a student, you would receive $500.
Closing out our conversation, Justice stated,” I think this program is a great way to promote global peace, and we all want peace in our country, in our world, in our own families. And this is a great way to do it.”
If you are interested in becoming a host family for the 2024-2025 school year, you can find the Aspect Foundation either on their website or their Facebook page. You can also contact Justice directly through Facebook or by phone at 435-749-1813.