New Brunswick International Student Program looking for more host families in southern part of the province

The New Brunswick International Student Program South is looking for host families ahead of the quickly approaching fall semester.

A total 117 students from abroad will attend high school in southern New Brunswick starting in Sept., including 18 in the border town of St. Stephen, N.B., with officials saying at least three families are still needed in the area.

Interested students from overseas first apply for the program, with their file eventually making its way to a program coordinator in the province. From there the coordinator will look for the right family fit, and when the family agrees on a student, their file then gets sent back to the student’s family. Both sides must agree to one another before moving in.

Michelle Vest is the program coordinator in the St. Stephen area.

“We know these people,” says Vest when matching students with families in the area. “We send our kids to school with these people, and we know which students will be the best matches for these families.”

Vest hosted her first student in 2016, just to try it out. This fall she will welcome her seventh and eighth international student.

“I would say give it a try,” says Vest. “Maybe try with a half year student if you’re not sure but ultimately it is an amazing experience that both my kids are so thankful for.”

“I have seen my daughter and son just blossom with this,” says Vest, who notes her daughter recently returned from visiting a former international student in their home country of Germany. “And they just love meeting new people and love learning the different languages as well.”

There are some basic requirements for families interested in hosting a student. They must provide a private bedroom, internet access, three nutritious meals a day, and access to a school bus or some sort of transportation.

Host families are also compensated with around $800 a month to feed and care for the student.

Ann Marie and Guy White have been a host family with the program since 2011, and will welcome their twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth student into their home when school begins in a few weeks. They say it has never been about the money.

“It’s the experience,” Guy says. “It’s a very enriching experience.”

“We haven’t had any low lights per say,” says wife Anne Marie. “We have had some really great kids who still keep in contact with us and it’s just an adventure.”

The couple says the biggest hurdle can be the language barrier at first, but say the students are always taken a back when they first see the town.

“They’re overwhelmed really,” Anne Marie says. “I say here’s the bike and you can go and they say ‘you mean I’m aloud to go ride around the block’ and we say of course go, because some countries you aren’t allowed to do that.”

“We have had questions where are all the people,” chuckles Guy. “Because they come from cities with 40 million people.”

Interested families have the option of hosting a students for a full year, or just one semester. The program also has a number of families on standby that can take in the student when vacationing, or travelling for the weekend.

More information can be found on the Atlantic Education International’s website.

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