NIU seeks host families for brief international exchange

NIU is seeking families in DeKalb to host Muslim and Christian high school students and adult community leaders from the Southern Philippines for two weeks in April.

The visitors will be participating in a training institute led by the university’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies and International Training Office. Funded by the U.S. Department of State, the institute is designed to promote conflict resolution and interethnic and interfaith dialogue. Participants are selected through a competitive application process, have outstanding academic credentials and are fluent in English.

The training institute will introduce participants to American institutions that promote tolerance and will expose them to the religious and ethnic diversity of the United States. NIU hopes to place the high school students with local families who have students of the same age.

The Filipino students will stay with their host families from April 17 to May 1, 2005.

Host families will provide the visitors with transportation to and from campus, where workshops will be held daily. Students will join their host families for breakfasts and most dinners. The students also will have at least one free day each week during the two-week host-family experience.

Host families will be required to attend an orientation session either late this fall or next spring. During the orientation, past host families will share their experiences from a similar program that was held earlier this year.

Interested families should contact Julie Lamb, outreach coordinator for the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, by Nov. 1, 2004 at (815) 753-1595 or jlamb@niu.edu.

9-20-04