Bowdoin can feel very far from home for Californian student witnessing her first Maine blizzard. Amy Ear '07 remembers walking home during her first experience with snow and encountering a woman about to shovel her driveway.
Ear recounted, "I asked her if I could shovel her driveway, unaware, at the time, that the woman was sick and did not look forward to shoveling." Once the driveway was cleared, the woman invited Ear in for tea?a meeting that evolved into a weekly tradition. Later Ear added, "We decided to sign up for the host families program to make it official?kind of like an adoption."
Bowdoin's host family program was originally created to help international students acclimate to American life. However, the program has been extended to American students as well, giving any student the opportunity to be part of a true family while transitioning to college life. Families within the Brunswick area volunteer to "adopt" Bowdoin students, and are then matched with those students who seem compatible.
Most student-family matches are not nearly as poignant as Ear's; interested students fill out applications, and then members of the Host Family Steering Committee (a group of participating host parents) make appropriate matches between these students and available host parents. There are approximately 60 students participating in the host family program this year.
The Host Family Steering Committee, chaired by Jeanne and Larry Clampitt, organizes four on campus programs each year. Otherwise, students and their host families initiate their own activities.
"We have taken our host daughter and her friends kayaking, had her over for family gatherings, gone to the local Chinese restaurant, taken her to Freeport to have her ears pierced, and attended concerts," host parent Gretchen Kamilewicz said.
For some students, their host families' houses become virtual homes. "We share time, dinner, also inviting out student to bring his friends to dinner at our house, and introducing him to our own children and grandchildren. He even has over-nights when necessary; we generally offer a space away from campus," says Jeanne d'Arc Mayo.
Some host families even take on the less desirable tasks of parenting?Valerie Ricker and her family periodically invite their host student over to do laundry.
The host family program is especially enriching in that it not only helps students become accustomed to American life, but host parents also have the chance to learn about foreign cultures.
"We joined the host family program to give our children (four and seven) exposure to other cultures," said Gail and Andy Meyer. "We go out for Thai food together, and Prae knows the owner and orders for us in Thai. We say 'hello' and 'thank you' in Thai and are learning how to bow."
Also, Kamilewicz observed, host children can seem amazingly caring and appreciative after raising one's own biological children. "When I was leaving my host daughter's dorm, she walked me down to the car and told me to call her when I got home because she was worried about my driving back to Orr's Island by myself! I thought that was so sweet of her; I don't think my own kids would have said that," she said.
In many cases students' "real" families have made lasting connections with their children's host families. Larry and Jeanne Clampitt recount their host son's championship swim meet last year: "Roger's parents, who have become close friends, were here for the meet. They held precious seats and made us honorary grandparents of the entire team...We always share the excitement of graduation with parents and grandparents."
In one case, a host family even traveled to visit their host daughter's family in El Salvador.
"Nearly every year I travel to El Salvador," Ricker said. "When Jowi [her host daughter] found out that I was going this year, she asked if I would please visit her family. I stayed the night at their home and spent most of the next day with them. We talked nearly non-stop."
Members of the host family program agree that their relationships evolve over time. Many current first-years report some awkwardness in their inital interactions with host parents, while most upper classmen, who have spent considerable time with their host families, feel completely comfortable.
"It takes time for host families to feel like families," Johanna Andrews Chavez '08 said. "In the beginning it is more like a friendship because you don't want to scare them by calling them 'mom and dad' the first day. But, after a few months, they are like family."
Almost everyone involved with the host family program agrees that it is a rewarding experience. The most common complaint, however, is that there are too few functions on campus to help alleviate the discomfort and awkwardness between students and their new "families."
Anna Kosovsky '08 from New York is slightly disappointed with her pairing. She thinks that the host family application should be more extensive so that students are paired with the most compatible families possible.
In the end, though, most host families and students are highly satisfied with the program.