The Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) is seeking volunteers to serve as hosts in its Community Friends program, which aims to promote intercultural understanding and create global friendships by matching international students with residents of the New Haven area.

Nearly 500 new international students arrived on campus this week to begin their studies at Yale.

Community Friends is not a home-stay program. Students and hosts keep in touch via phone and e-mail and meet occasionally to share a meal, join in an activity or take part in a holiday tradition. The program offers students a source of support in the local community and a chance to experience U.S. culture, while giving hosts the opportunity to learn about another culture firsthand and to see the United States through the eyes of a visitor. Single people, couples and families are encouraged to serve as Community Friends hosts.

This past year nearly 40 faculty and staff members participated in the program. Paul Genecin, director of University Health Services, and his wife Vicki Morrow, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry, were matched with a Taiwanese graduate student and his family. Genecin says of Community Friends, “This is a wonderful program and at least as valuable for this host as for the guests.”

Dana Ciccone, an associate research analyst in the Office of Development, was paired with a graduate student from China. “Every time we meet I walk away feeling like I learned something: something about her culture, something about my culture, something about myself,” says Ciccone. “She has shared herself openly with me, and in addition to gaining the valuable learning experience of our cultural exchange, I have also gained a friend.”

Art and Mary Hunt, both of Informa-tion Technology Services, have hosted international undergraduates for the past three years and shared numerous valuable experiences with their students, including family dinners, holidays and outdoor activities. Says Art Hunt, “It has been a wonderful way to broaden our knowledge of another culture and strengthen our connection to the University.&rdquo

Those interested in becoming hosts can sign up online at www.oiss.yale.edu/hostfamily. For more information about Community Friends, contact Abigail Borchert at (203) 432-2305 or abigail.borchert@yale.edu.

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OISS seeking hosts for its Community Friends program

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