Vol. 16, No. 8 - A Publication For Faculty, Staff and Friends of Wichita State University - December 2, 1999 

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By Amy Geiszler-Jones

Wichitans have an opportunity to get to know someone from another country through a program that matches families with WSU international students.

"The Friendship Family Program is like Big Brothers Big Sisters for international students," said Armin Gerhard, associate director of international programs.

In the last two years, 122 students have been paired up with 105 host families through the program, according to Bill Glennen, international student adviser and coordinator of the program, which has run for more than a decade at WSU.

Families are expected to ask the student to participate in at least one activity a month, such as going to a movie, spending an afternoon of shopping or eating a meal. It’s not unheard of for families to ask students to spend family vacations with them, Glennen said.

Frankie Mason, a graduate student, has "adopted" two families of students, one a three-member Chinese family with a 9-year-old boy and the other, two brothers from the Congo. Her 83-year-old mother has joined her on some of the activities she’s done with the students since this summer. She decided to join the program after she started volunteering with the Intensive English conversation program, in which she met several international students.

"They’re refreshing," said Mason, about interacting with foreigners. "There’s such an open mindedness about everything."

Glennen said the program "is a two-way cultural exchange where American families can learn more about individual countries around the world and people from there and see how different they are and how similar they are. For the international students, they can see what home life is, what’s behind those American doors."

For many, this is a way to build deeper relationships with Americans outside the classroom. "Their biggest complaint about Americans is that they are very friendly, but that friendship doesn’t go very deep," Glennen said.

A number of the families in the program tend to be from churches, but "hard-core confrontations for conversions" are discouraged, said Glennen.

When a family is paired with a student, Glennen sends them a "culturegram," which is a fact sheet on the student’s country that includes cultural dos and don’ts.

Most of the matches tend to be made at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters, and most of the students tend to be either starting their academic career or are enrolled in Intensive English. (The latter program offers courses for students who need to become more proficient in English before enrolling in academic classes.)

Sometimes the relationships last years, long after the student has left WSU, said Glennen, with students sending their American host families wedding invitations or baby announcements.

With the start of the spring semester around the corner, Glennen said he welcomes more families to sign up for the program. Sometimes he has more families than students waiting for matches, but he said that’s a problem he relishes. Call 978-3730 for more information.

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