Exchange students contribute to fabric of Western Pennsylvania as they experience American culture

When a colleague asked Deer Lakes Spanish teacher Josh Destein if he knew anyone who could host an exchange student from Spain, he jokingly said he could.

“I’m single and I have a little house,” he said. “Her face lit up. She got so excited. My little joke turned into reality.”

That was seven years ago. Today, Destein is hosting his seventh foreign exchange student, Simon Foerster, a 16-year-old from Denmark.

In addition to Spain, Destein has hosted exchange students from Finland, Hungary, Germany and Norway through AFS Intercultural Programs.

“Since I’m a single guy, it gives me a chance to experience what it’s like being a parent,” he said. “Our school doesn’t have very much diversity or cultural perspectives. The kids I’ve hosted have all brought in something unique. They’ve brought in new perspectives of the world.”

There are two dozen students from 16 countries at 19 schools in and around the Pittsburgh area this school year, said Darlene Frederickson, a retired teacher who is co-chair of Western Pennsylvania for AFS and president of its Westmoreland County/Laurel Highlands chapter.

Frederickson first hosted a student from Uruguay in 1984. While not hosting now, she has hosted 32 students over the years and recently traveled to Kosovo to visit a former student named Art, who she hosted in 2017-18. He is now a doctor and calls her his second mother.

“I wish everybody could get the experience,” she said. “It’s just so amazing that you do not know these kids exist and then you meet them and they just take your heart and you become a part of their family.”

AFS was founded by World War I and II American Field Service ambulance drivers who believed future conflict could be prevented through cross-cultural exchanges. It is one of the largest and oldest nonprofit organizations dedicated to high school exchange.

AFS has more than 900 students from 84 countries in the U.S. this school year, spokeswoman Candace O’Malley said. They are in more than 650 high schools across 43 states.

In 2018, there were more than 2,000 students nationwide, and 35 in Western Pennsylvania.

“Like many other exchange organizations, AFS-USA has been steadily rebuilding our programs since covid-19 and working to increase the number of students each year,” she said.

Host families represent a diverse range of U.S. culture, including individuals and families of multi-national or ethnic backgrounds, those with and without children, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, among others, O’Malley said.

“Host families are transformed by their experience, learning from students from around the world,” she said.

Becoming a global citizen through hosting is a priceless experience, said Frederickson, 73, who first traveled abroad to Peru when she was 16, staying with an Incan family in the Andes Mountains.

“This is a great way to give to world peace,” she said. “You really understand how difficult diplomacy is and trying to work through different cultures. There’s so much joy to it and you feel so good about it if you’re willing to open your home.”

Filling an empty home

Jack Zaharia, 86, of Irwin is hosting for the first time. The retired Hempfield English teacher is hosting Sinaan Kiran, 18, from Turkey, and Ryuga Ota, 16, from Japan, who are attending Penn-Trafford High School.

Becoming a host came about by accident, he says, when he saw something about AFS online.

“I wish I had done it much sooner,” Zaharia said. “I thought it would be something that was interesting and it certainly has been.”

Zaharia’s wife, Claudia, died six years ago. He said he chose a student from Turkey because he has been there, and another from Japan because it’s a place he’d like to visit.

“I have an empty house since my wife is gone. I’ve been by myself all those years,” he said, adding that having Sinaan and Ryuka around is “great” and they get along like brothers.

“They’re like my children. I have grandchildren their age,” he said. “They’re my family while they’re here. I feel that they are part of my family.”

There are three exchange students at Plum High School, one through AFS, Principal Patrick Baughman said. They are from Italy, Spain and Hungary.

Baughman said the school makes sure the exchange students get involved in clubs, activities and athletics. Plum students are curious about and interested in them.

“It’s a great relationship for both the students that come across from overseas to us and it’s also a wonderful opportunity for the kids that are part of our district to kind of be aware of a diverse community that they’re not always necessarily a part of,” Baughman said.

“Our district and our students and the families that they stay with do an excellent job at assimilating the students into their new culture.”

Coco Matsuzaka, 17, is from Japan and staying with Steve and Rachel Pyle, of Jeannette, who are hosting for their second time.

“I like the U.S. The food is good. Everyone is friendly,” she said. “My school friends are very friendly and nice to me. My host family is great. Everything is new and interesting.”

The school system is different in the U.S. from Japan, and the teachers are friendlier to students, she said.

As for being in the U.S. during a presidential election, Coco said she has been surprised by the advertising and candidates being on TV all the time, which is also different than Japan.

“When she first arrived, she was surprised how many houses have American flags hanging up,” Rachel Pyle said.

Both of the students the Pyles have hosted have been from Japan, where Rachel had lived with a host family while she was in college.

“When I got older I always wanted to be a host family as well,” she said. “Since I had experience in Japan, we chose Japanese students.”

With both girls, Steve Pyle said, it was easy for them to make friends, get involved in activities and do well in school. They show them around the Pittsburgh area and took them on trips to places such as Niagara Falls, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.

“We don’t have any children. For us it was a really interesting experience to go from having no children to a teenager,” Rachel Pyle said. “What they don’t prepare you for is how difficult it is to say goodbye when they leave.”

Hosting changes your life, Steve Pyle said.

“I feel like a lot of people just do the same stuff every day. They’re stuck in a routine,” he said. “It’s a good change just to get out of that and see someone come into your culture and experience the food and a different atmosphere and the people.”

The Kaczor family in Lower Burrell is hosting for the first time, opening their home to Marian Sirota, 16, from Slovakia.

Laney Kaczor, 16, talked her parents, Rick and Kristina, into hosting after she became friends with a student from Spain last year who she played soccer with.

“I got injured and so we sat on the bench together,” she said.

The family read through the biographies of available students and kept going back to Marian, Rick Kaczor said.

Marian quickly befriended boys on the soccer team and has become an integral part of the Kaczor family and Burrell High School, Rick Kaczor said. He also likes Sheetz.

“He’s no different than any other teen. He’s a teenage boy. He likes to play video games, he likes social media and he likes to hang out with his friends,” Rick Kaczor said.

Marian said his cousin was an exchange student in New Jersey last year.

“I was talking about it with my dad. I decided to be an exchange student, too,” he said. “I wanted to try something new.”

Asked for his thoughts on the election, Marian said, “I don’t really care.”

Rick Kaczor said people shouldn’t be afraid to try hosting.

“It might be scary but jump in and do it,” Laney Kaczor said. “If you ever have a thought of doing it, you should just do it.”

For Destein, hosting has been a life-changing experience.

“It’s so rewarding in many ways. There’s been so much laughter. They teach me so much about language, about culture, even about history,” he said. “I encourage everybody to try it. It has been a learning experience from both sides.”