June 1, 2017
With a warm heart and sincerest gratitude, I’m thrilled to share that we have secured host families for Tamana for the summer months and her Senior year! We had an incredible response from MPA families. Thank you to each and every one of you whose heart went out to Tamana, who took the time to consider hosting, and who volunteered to host! Thank you!
As we continue to grow and develop the MPA International Student Program, we are still looking for additional host families for new students. If our earlier request spurred conversations in your home or you’ve already begun mentally repurposing that spare bedroom, we would love to have you host! We are actively recruiting students from a variety of countries around the world, hoping to increase and diversify our international student population in the process. One of the organizations we are currently working with is Youth for Understanding (YFU), an organization that recruits students from 70 countries for one-year experiences in the United States. We are partnering with the YFU Homestay Coordinator to place some of these great students in homes for the 2017-18 school year and many years to come.
A piece of YFU’s mission is to “make the world your home,” and in pairing international students and families, YFU emulates many of the same values we hold dear at MPA. In hosting a student, you have a wonderful opportunity to bring the language, culture, and perspective of another country into your home, allowing for a truly rich, intercultural experience. The students love to share their lives with you while becoming a part of your family and exploring Minnesota at the same time. If you are interested in hosting an international student for a semester or school year, please reach out to me for additional information or to begin the process of becoming a host family; we would love to work with you!
Thank you for considering,
Sarah McFarland
International Student Program Coordinator
smcfarland@moundsparkacademy.org
