Sense of family: N.B. couple celebrates college graduation with group of international students they house

HALIFAX -

A couple from St. Andrews, N.B. has stepped into the role of proud parents for a group of graduating international students.

Gmae Eviota, originally from the Philippines, has been studying at the New Brunswick Community College's St. Andrews Campus.

She recently graduated and was offered a job in her field of hotel and restaurant management.

Now, Eviota is preparing to leave the town she's lived in, studied in, and called home for the past few years.

"The good thing is this place is supporting and the employee is willing to sponsor us for immigration, so that's one reason I grabbed the opportunity for this position that I applied for," explained Eviota.

For many international students like Eviota, housing can be hard to find, especially with the popularity of Airbnbs. Luckily, she was connected with Andrew and Barbara Roberts.

"We bought this house with a view of hosting international students," explained Andrew Roberts. "The house was built with two separate units. We occupy one and our students occupy the other."

"They said they have this available basement that we could actually live in and eventually, I didn't expect that our landlords would be like our parents," said Eviota.

On graduation day, the Roberts took the parent role to heart, cheering on the five international students who live in their building and celebrating their achievements alongside them.

"It's just been a really nice sense of family and when your family achieves something, like graduating from college in a foreign country, you want to be there," said Barbara Roberts.

"Our five students had really thrived, they had really succeeded, and they had a lot to be proud of. We were delighted to be part of that at their recent grab," said Andrew.

The Roberts say they encourage others in St. Andrews to follow in their footsteps and think about opening their home to international students.