Families sought to host international exchange students

Nick Hotop is looking for busy families.

Busy families, he said, make the best host families for exchange students.

"Basically, everyone says they are too busy to host, but that's what we need," said Hotop, an international exchange coordinator for EF High School Exchange Year. "The busier the host family is, the better it is for the students. If they are not busy, the students get bored and homesick."

Founded in 1965, EF High School Exchange Year is operated by EF Education Foundation for Foreign Study, a nonprofit corporation designated by the U.S. State Department.

Since 2011, Hotop has been the local coordinator for the organization, which operates 450 offices in 50 countries. He helps students find host families in Southeast Missouri and some parts of Illinois.

Hotop has helped place 15 students from China, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico and other countries.

This year, he doesn't have an exchange student in Cape Girardeau, but that's something he said he hopes will change in the future.

In the past, families from Cape Girardeau have participated. One student attended Saxony Lutheran High School, and another went to Cape Central High School.

The student Hotop placed this year, Niklas Mutzke, lives near St. Louis and is attending Washington High School.

Mutzke hails from Germany and has lived with Steve and Mary Kendrick since August 2014.

"I have gotten to know American culture and how Americans celebrate their holidays," he said. "I really enjoyed Thanksgiving and Christmas."

Mutzke likes school here, which he said is different from the system in his country.

"In Germany, we have one class, and you do everything together with your class from morning to afternoon," Mutzke said.

Changing classes every period took some getting used to, but he likes it.

"Every lesson has different students," Mutzke said. "It feels more open, and you get to know more people."

He also has enjoyed participating in team sports, he said.

Mutzke, 17, said although he is a senior this year, it won't count in Germany, and he'll have to repeat the grade next year.

"It didn't work out perfect for me," he said. "But I'm OK with it."

To become host families, people must be at least 25 years old, live in a house and have an extra room for the student, although sharing a room with a host family's child is acceptable, as long as both sets of parents agree.

Prospective host families must pass a background check, and afterward, they begin going through applications to determine which student would be a good fit for them.

Single and divorced people are allowed to host exchange students, too, as long as they meet the age and housing criteria and pass the background check. It doesn't matter whether they have children of their own.

Host families may choose whether they want to participate for one semester of school or for the entire school year.

Visiting students are expected to cover all their own expenses except housing and meals, so it's not much of a financial burden.

"You're already paying those bills anyway," Hotop said.

Students are encouraged to bring $1,000 to $2,000 with them, because they are not allowed to work.

"They are here to study and have a great time while they are here," Hotop said.

A former substitute teacher in Perryville, Missouri, where he lives, Hotop said he met several exchange students his aunt hosted through different programs. Her positive experience motivated him to become involved.

Mary Kendrick said this is the second time she has hosted a foreign exchange student, also through a different program.

"I think culturally, it's exciting to be with people from a completely different part of the world," she said. "You make relationships where you really feel like family."

Hosting a student is a chance to gain perspective about another culture in a special way, Kendrick said.

"It's not an opportunity you can create for yourself with a person from a different country," she said. "You make relationships where you really feel like you are family."

Already, the Kendricks are planning a trip to Germany next year to visit the Mutzkes.

Mutzke will stay in the United States until the end of the school year, when his parents will come for a visit, and he will travel back home with them.

He and his parents started out researching the possibility of participating in the exchange program mainly because he wanted to become fluent in English, a goal he has met -- at times, a little too well.

"Sometimes when I am talking with my parents in German, I kind of forget it a little bit, like I mix English words into the sentence," he said. "I'm sure I will get it back."

For more information about EF High School Exchange Year, visit efexchangeyear.org.