Experience the world in your own home through a foreign exchange program
Imagine being able to experience a different culture without having to leave your home.
Aspect Foundation opens up the homes of families around the country, including Yuma, to exchange students from 50 different countries.
This is a dream for many students abroad, like Greta Dentico , a student from Rome who studied in Buckeye, Arizona for a year with a host family.
Aspect Foundation Community Director, Kellie Payne, was Dentico’s host family.
Payne said all the host families are volunteers who offer the students the chance to be like an American at school and in the home, while p roviding three meals a day, a loving home, and a bed to sleep in.
The program matches students with host families that best suit each other.
Payne said, “Greta was from Italy, and she was the perfect fit for our family.”
Megan Castillo is looking to fill her empty nest with two exchange students who love music and sports.
One student is from Italy and the other is from Hong Kong.
Castillo is excited about the experience, saying, ” We have the room now and I thought it would be a great opportunity to help somebody else experience Yuma. ”
Dentico believes it’s always nice to have someone of a different culture in your home and Charity Damron , a teacher and foster parent, agrees.
Damron expressed how it’s the little things that help strangers feel comfortable in your home.
“I think it’s really important to make sure that they really understand, and they know that they’re family and when they come into our home they are not an outsider,” she said.
With the differences in cultures, customs, and traditions, Payne added, “It’s doing things you would normally do with your family but also explaining things to them.”
Building lasting relationships by broadening horizons, Dentico told News 11 she’s no longer afraid to do anything after traveling across the globe alone and living with a host family.
Aspect Foundation is currently looking for families in our area willing to host exchange students before the beginning of the upcoming school year.
For more information visit www.aspectfoundation.org.
