Dear Editor,

Foreign high school students are scheduled to arrive soon for academic semester and year homestay programs, and the sponsoring organization needs a few more local host families. The students are anxiously awaiting news of their new families. This is the last chance for these young ambassadors to fulfill their life-long dreams, and their placement deadlines are rapidly approaching.

The students are all between the ages of 15 and 18 years, are English-speaking, have their own spending money, carry accident and health insurance, and are anxious to share their cultural experiences with their new American families.

P.I.E. area representatives match students with host families by finding common interests and lifestyles through an informal in-home meeting.

Prospective host families are able to review student applications and select the perfect match. Families who host for P.I.E. are also eligible to claim a monthly charitable contribution deduction on their itemized tax returns for each month they host a sponsored student.

For the upcoming programs, P.I.E. has students from Germany, the former Soviet Union, Venezuela, Argentina, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands,Brazil, Hungary, Korea, Mexico, Australia, China, and many other countries. P.I.E. is also participating in two special government-funded programs to bring scholarship students from the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union as well as predominantly Islamic countries such as Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Kuwait, Iraq and Qatar to the United States.

I encourage families to contact the program immediately, as it will allow the proper time for the students and hosts to get to know one another before they actually meet for the first time.

Families interested in learning more about student exchange or arranging for a meeting with a community representative may call P.I.E., toll-free, at 1-866-546-1402.

John Doty

Pacific Intercultural Exchange

San Diego