One of ISE's area representatives has discovered that exchange students are a source of insipration, positivity, and joy. In her house she mantains an "Exchange Wall," where her students imprint their handprints to mark their arrival, stay, and departure. It is a wonderful experience to share and unite students from around the world, as well as Americans that host the exchange students. She has found that exchange students have expanded her cultural horizons and have changed the way she views the world. Here is a letter she wrote, followed by pictures of her students in Boston, MA recently.

Dear ISE,

Kris Matthieu

From this video, anyone can learn about hosting and how great it is! The rewards are infinite and last a lifetime!

Dear Friends,

Welcome to our first submission of the “ISE Family Speaks Out On Exchange” blog.  Even though we are into an era of compliance issues, paperwork and regulations, we feel it necessary to tell everyone about the wonderful happenings in the world of student exchange.  We want to do that via this vehicle.  It is time that we speak out even more vehemently about all of the positive things that exchange programs bring forth.  This exciting world of exchange depends upon our students, host families, school officials and exchange representatives as well as our devoted office staff.

We should never forget the great work that each of the above does.  There are the brave students who come and work on Project Help and who work hard at becoming members of a new family.  The schools and their personnel are so important since in most cases they go far beyond the scope of their duties to help our students in their new surroundings.  The host families rearrange their entire lives for a year just to show their love and affection for a new family member.  Our office staff often put in many hours during the evenings and weekends to ensure that each student’s program goes on without a problem.  Last,  but certainly not least,  are our representatives and managers.,  These individuals work tirelessly during the entire year,  making sure that our students have the best host families as possible and who arrange so many events during the year so that our students can experience the most during their stay.

 The world of exchange does change lives and in almost all cases, the change is positive. I am convinced that our greatest shortcoming in this work is that we never have enough time to publicize all of the great work that everyone does to make our mission of “educating tomorrow’s leaders” become a reality. We want to share these many stories with you so that everyone can spread the word about the positive world of student exchange.

Our world is shrinking daily due to the latest technological happenings.  We must strive to make our world a better place to live and to know more about our neighbors around the world.  As Americans, we are proud of our culture, our families and our communities.  The work we all do is invaluable by making the citizens of the world closer to each other in acceptance and understanding of each other.

That is the main purpose of our blog.  We are so proud of the wonderful accomplishments of student exchange.  We should make sure that these positive messages are heard around the world.  Thanks to this blog, we can make this happen.

Yours in exchange,

Wayne Brewer, CEO
International Student Exchange