The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
A FOND FAREWELL
Host families and exchange students from France, Spain have one last shindig
Oneida families bade farewell to their exchange children and siblings at the Kallet Civic Center on Monday, celebrating a month’s worth of time spent hosting international students from France and Spain with parting gifts, a video tribute and dancing.
Beginning in the latter half of June, 25 families in the City of Oneida opened their homes to 25 exchange students visiting America to improve their English language skills and learn about American culture as part of the exchange programCenter for Cultural Interchange (CCI) Greenheart.
Monday was the culmination of a month of English classes, field trips to historic and cultural sights, and participation in American sports for the teens, and both host families and international students reminisced about their time spent in one another’s company, as well as planning future visits.
For Susan and David Rose, 2016 was the first time their family participated in the CCI exchange program, welcoming Blanca Angel, 18, of Spain into their home. Susan was impressed with the opportunity the exchange program provides to both American and international teens.
“It’s a unique experience with teenagers from different cultures being more in common than they think,” she said, before adding that the time spent as a host family gave her children Jessica, a junior at Oneida High School, and Zach, a seventh grader at Otto Shortell Middle School, the “benefit of learning another culture.”
The Oneida mother also credited her children for helping bridge the language barrier between Angel and their family, explaining how Jessica has taken several years’ worth of Spanish courses.
“It was not as hard as we thought,” she said of the language barrier.
Susan said there had been some “teary eyed” moments in the Rose house as of late as the three youths prepare to part ways. The Roses have had video calls with Angel’s family in Spain, and Angel’s family has expressed interest in having Jessica and Zach visit their home in Spain.
Stephanie Holmes and her two sons, Justin and Brayden, hosted Henrique Carretero, 16, of France. Justin said he enjoyed sharing American culture with
Henrique while also adding to his French vocabulary.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he said of the host family experience. “We showed them stuff, they’ve showed us a lot of things.”
One particular memory Justin brought up was explaining the concept of peanut butter to Carretero, who had never seen the American food staple before.
Carretero said he wanted to come back and visit the family during the winter holiday and “stay in touch pretty well.”
Rob Douglas began the first CCI program in Madison County 20 years ago in Chittenango before meeting OHS French Teacher Catherine Jeannin, the CCI Greenheart coordina- tor at OHS, and extending the program to Oneida six years ago. He spoke briefly at the farewell, thanking the host families for their role in the exchange program.
“We cannot do these programs without you families and your generosity opening your hearts and homes to these kids,” he said.
The international students presented their host families with small gifts and cards containing personalized messages. Before the ceremony ended and the Spanish, French and American teens joined together on the dance floor, the international students surprised Jeannin and cocoordinator of CCI Greenheart in Oneida Austin Nojaim with gifts. Angel MC’d the surprise.
“Thank you, Katherine and Nojaim, for all you have done for us,” she said.