The following article about CHI’s Academic Year Program recently appeared on the Catholic News Herald website.
ELKIN — For almost two decades, retired teachers Julie and Patrick Colglazier and their family have welcomed more than 16 exchange students into their home. Moving to Elkin from the Oakland, Calif., area in 2012, they have brought this tradition with them.
“Having an exchange student in your home allows you to vicariously see ‘our world’ through their eyes. We get to see things we take for granted in a totally new light,” they shared in a recent interview.
The Colglaziers have hosted six students and one teacher during several summers for a “short session” of two to five weeks. They have also hosted 10 students for either a full school year or one semester over the years. They have hosted students from South Korea, Japan, France, Germany, Belgium, Colombia and Slovakia. The Colglaziers have been hosting exchange students through Cultural Homestay International. Cultural Homestay International is monitored by the U.S. State Department and has many options to choose from for hosting exchange students from short sessions to full-year programs.
While there are no real language barriers because most students have spoken English most of their lives, there are differences. And those differences are in social customs. Patrick Colglazier explained that while students from South Korea may be accustomed to a more formal social greeting, last year’s exchange student, Giorgio from Italy, came with “big hugs.”
“We enjoy sharing our house and our society with those from around the world,” he said.
They believe the students who “live here a while will come away with a better image of the United States than that is found in politicized news from overseas,” he explained.
And, for their part, they gain much in return, they both say.
“We are able to see our world through their eyes. That is to say, when we take them some place, their reactions to what we show them opens our eyes to things we have forgotten. We get to appreciate things and experiences in our own area deeper than we had previously,” the Colglaziers both expressed.
On a more practical note, each of the Colglaziers’ five children have been able to visit their exchange “brother or sister” in their home countries over the years. This is especially meaningful because they were able to “see the foreign country as a native and not just as a visitor,” said Patrick Colglazier.
When asked what the qualifications are to host an exchange student, Julie Colglazier replied, “You just have to be a loving family and willing to open your home to a stranger.”
“Hosting a student is easy if you welcome them into your home just as you would an additional son or daughter. That is what we do… They are there like your child.” And in return, the exchange student sees “your home as their home, not as a hotel, and your family as their family.”
Host families do not get paid, but do get a tax deduction for having an additional dependent for the time the student lives with them.
Students come to this country with their own spending money, medical insurance and cell phones. They are encouraged to make their own friends and participate in activities of their own interest. However, they usually become good friends while sharing social outings and community projects with their host brothers and sisters.
The Colglaziers enjoy hosting a party to welcome their new student each year. They say they feel it is a great way to introduce their guest to the community before the school year begins.
Through guidance from local Cultural Homestay International coordinator, Sister Janice McQuade, S.S.J., of St. Stephen Mission, the Colglaziers have been able to choose students who they feel will best fit in with their family and interests. Host families and students can even be paired together based on religious beliefs.
Sharing their faith with these students is most meaningful to the Colglaziers, they note.
“We have been blessed in that the two students we have hosted here in North Carolina have both been active in our parish,” said Julie Colglazier. One student played flute in the choir, while others participated in the faith formation program at their church. Furthermore, “taking students to see sights such as the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., has been exciting for us and them.”
Even sharing the Catholic faith through prayer at mealtime is special. “When we eat dinner as a family, no one starts until grace is said,” Patrick Colglazier said in a recent email.
Lives are shared, touched and changed for both host families and their students through these exchange student programs, especially when one’s Catholic faith can be openly shared together. In an email one of the Colglaziers’ recent exchange students, Da Eun Kim from South Korea, wrote, “During the 10 months that I have stayed with the Colglaziers I have experienced a lot of new things. They helped me get over my shyness and I became more comfortable staying here. This was my first time to be away from my family, friends, and country. Because they helped and supported me, I was able to accept the separation. One of the best things about staying with the Colglaziers is that I have been able to continue my religious life. I have been Catholic since I was born and when I decided to come here, I thought that I might not be able to continue to go to church for almost a whole year. However since they are Catholic as well I could go to St. Stephen and meet many welcoming people whom I love. I got the honor of playing my flute during Mass and it has been such a great honor and I enjoyed it so much. An opportunity to stay with the Colglaziers must have been a present from The Father. I love this shiny enjoyable present.”
Who’s coming next to the Colglaziers’ Elkin home? Their 2015-2016 exchange student is Jakub Haushahn from Germany, who arrived Aug. 7 to stay with them for this school year.
For details about sponsoring an exchange student, contact Cultural Homestay International’s local coordinator, Sister Janis McQuade, S.S.J., of St. Stephen Mission in Elkin at 336-835-3007.
— Georgianna Penn, correspondent
