Today is Christmas, and tonight is Hanukkah – a meeting that occurs so rarely most of us won’t remember the last time it happened. In our home, we will celebrate Christmas with a special dinner and Hanukkah with the lighting of the menorah. The exchange students we are responsible for this year are celebrating in similar ways – but in many ways, totally different from their lives back home.
As the year comes to a close and families around the world celebrate the holidays, I think about our students. They are celebrating holidays with people they didn’t know just a few months ago but who are now part of their daily lives. I think about the host families who have welcomed teens from around the world into their homes. And I think about the parents and families back home, who are celebrating the holidays without their child, and who are both anxious and happy for the experiences that child is having thousands of miles away.
I remember how these teens felt just a few months ago as they stepped off a plane in the United States, many never having visited before. I imagine that for them, the air felt different somehow. I know the accents sounded unfamiliar, even to those who have heard voices in English before. They are carrying not just their luggage, but also a mix of excitement and nerves. This is the moment where everything changed — not just their physical surroundings, but their perspective on the world.
This is what youth exchange programs are all about.
The purpose of these programs is much bigger than just letting a teenager experience a new country or improve their English, although that is certainly part of it. It’s about building bridges between cultures. These programs were created to help young people – and their host families -- see the world from a different angle, from others’ point of view. They were created to help young people and their host families see that even though we may come from different places, we share more in common than we think. I like to think of it as a cultural handshake: students bring their country’s traditions, ideas, and way of life to share with their host family and community, and host families share their traditions, ideas, and way of life with their students. In return, each gains insights into the other’s way of life.
The United States has a long history of hosting exchange students, rooted in the idea that mutual understanding can foster global peace. Exchange programs – and there are many to choose from -- are part of a larger effort to connect people from all over the world. During a student’s stay, they live as a member of an American family. The students we are working with are attending a local high school and are participating in everyday activities like football games, school dances, and weekend family outings. They are members of the cheerleading squad, the basketball team, and the wrestling team. They are taking AP U.S. History and have joined the school’s climbing or ski club. Each of these experiences, no matter how small they might seem, contributes to a bigger purpose: breaking down stereotypes and learning to see the world through someone else’s eyes.
But it's not just about the people our students meet or the new experiences they have. Exchange is also about discovering who you are and who you might be in the future – not just for the students, but also for the families hosting our students. Going on exchange is not a piece of cake, and it’s not intended to be. Exchange students have ups and downs all throughout the year, and host families face the challenge of integrating someone they never knew into their family and community. They all learn how to navigate these challenges, communicate in new ways, and adapt to situations they have never faced before. By the end of the exchange, our students have grown in ways they and their families never thought possible. Many host families feel the same. The purpose of youth exchange programs is to create these life-changing moments — not just for you, but for everyone you meet along the way.
