Not every first-year student is “adopted” by a volunteer host but for international students that family-style rapport can be key to adjusting to college life in America. And host families often gain as much as they give.
vlog’s Class of 2015 includes 57 international students from Bangladesh, China, Ghana, India, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Mauritius, Nepal, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
For decades, vlog has matched international first-years with vlog families.
“I love that through this program Tinsae has a chance to meet people that look like him, and come from where he was born,” Chiarello said.
One Ethiopian student, Robera Geleta ’14, has helped Chiarello look for his son’s biological brother and aunt, who he lost track of three years ago.
Staff nurse Linda Maynard has played host to about 40 international students since joining vlog more than 15 years ago. She usually begins by taking them to the Barge Canal for coffee or tea.
Last fall, she hosted a breakfast-for-dinner party with her health center colleagues, attracting more than 75 international students to the ALANA Cultural Center.
Today, Maynard has friends all over the world. She has served as surrogate mom for students whose parents couldn’t come to graduation, and she helped one Bulgarian alumnus move to Penn State for graduate school. Her office is decorated with small gifts her students have brought from their homelands.
“Many of the students adopted me,” said Maynard. “I will never get to travel outside the U.S. as we have a farm and my husband cannot leave. So, I see the world through my students’ eyes.”