Benedetta Villano, an exchange student from Italy, was able to graduate high school in Italy and in America. Read some of her amazing story below, or read the full article here. Benedetta “Benni” Villano is a 17-year-old exchange student from Italy that was placed with a host family in Yuma,…
Irene Huguet is a Spanish exchange student attending high school in Wantagh, New York. Irene arrived to New York this past summer and has been loving every moment she has been here. She is a high honors student, as well as the starting center for the girls basketball team. Irene…
If there was just one story that truly encapsulates why ISE believes in giving back, it would be the story of Amanda*. For years, Amanda lived a life typical of other youngsters in her Kentucky town — playing outside, riding bikes in her neighborhood, and meeting new friends at school….
Milos Prokic, the Chief Operations Officer at International Student Exchange (ISE), has seen his fair share of the world. He’s worked and studied in Canada, Ukraine, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, France, and the United States, and traveled to plenty of other countries as well. That said, at no other time…
For many international exchange students, few holidays feel more quintessentially “American” than Thanksgiving. Many Thanksgiving traditions revolve around cultural mainstays like football and comfort food, leading many international students to feel particularly excited about experiencing Thanksgiving with their American host family. What are the types of experiences international students look…
If you didn’t know David and Sherry Rollins personally, you would be forgiven for thinking the couple had one of the largest extended families you’d ever seen. After all, nearly a dozen teenagers have come in and out of the Rollins household over the past decade, each staying in their…
Any International Student Exchange area representative will tell you that this job isn’t for everyone. Area representatives are a key part of ISE’s mission to bring cultures and people together through study abroad, which doesn’t come without its challenges. Superb time management, a great work ethic, and a knack for…
Being an ISE Area Representative might be a part-time job, but it often feels like it requires full-time energy. Juggling the many tasks associated with recruiting new host families, working with students, and managing everyday issues with current hosts can feel overwhelming for new reps. Thankfully, there are plenty of…
Ideally, host families and their exchange students have relationships built on open communication and honesty. But sometimes, coming into a new host family’s home can cause students to feel unsure about how to approach unfamiliar or confusing situations. Add in a language barrier and cultural differences, and sometimes the communication…
Brenda Hendrickson can hardly remember the day she became an area representative — after all, it was nearly a decade ago. She recalls seeing an advertisement on Craigslist, and can vaguely remember the job description: to help connect foreign exchange students with American host families, and all that entails. Though…