Host families needed for students from abroad

ALLENTOWN - Host families are needed for international high school-age exchange students who are coming to study in the Allentown area during the 2007-08 school year.

The exchange students are hoping to integrate themselves into a local family with the goal of experiencing American culture as a high school student in the United States does. In return, the students hope to provide host families with insight into their own culture, according to Sean Taddiken, a New Jersey coordinator for the STS Foundation, whose headquarters are in Arizona.

The STS Foundation is a nonprofit student-exchange organization that has helped facilitate exchange relationships for the past two decades, according to Taddiken.

"We are proud to have been successfully placing international students with host families in and around the area for over 20 years and want to keep this welcoming tradition alive," Taddiken said.

He continued, "We believe international student exchange is a unique and vital source of knowledge and an empowering supplement to both the American students' and the exchange students' education and experience."

The STS Foundation looks forward to finding new host families in and around Allentown for exchange students such as 17-year-old Krzysztof, a young man from Poland who loves playing soccer and working with computers, according to Taddiken.

"He is very excited to learn about American culture," Taddiken said.

According to Taddiken, a young woman named Nicole, a 16-year-old from France, also seeks a host family. She loves playing badminton and practicing Aikido, he said.

"She also loves animals and says she is very excited to discover the people and traditions of America," he said.

Taddiken said all the students come with their own spending money and health insurance. Host families provide their exchange student with a bed, family meals and a safe environment.

Those interested in hosting a student can call Sean Taddiken at 1-800-522-4678 or e-mail him at seant@stsfoundation.org. For more information, families can also visit www.stsfoundation.org.