Program Description
  The U.S. High School/Homestay Program is a United States government designated program that seeks to increase international understanding and world peace. Foreign high school students accepted to the program are placed with American host families and attend local high school for one semester or one academic year. This gives the student the unique opportunity to learn about the U.S. both as a member of an American family and as a student in an American high school, and to share the student's culture with Americans.

Host Families
  Host families go through a rigorous application process that includes a detailed application form, references, and an in-home interview and home inspection conducted by an ACES Local Coordinator. Host families are from different socio-economic backgrounds, live in urban and rural areas, and include single parent and two parent homes as well as couples with no children. All have the intense desire to invite a foreign student to become a member of the family for 5 or 10 months and are able to provide a safe and nurturing environment for the student.

Host Schools
  All schools in which a foreign student is placed are fully accredited high schools that desire to increase their diversity by welcoming a foreign student to become a member of the student body for one semester or one academic year. All student participants are expected to maintain a "C" average in the host school and to demonstrate effort in all classes. Students are also expected to become an asset to the school by serving as a resource for cross-cultural understanding. In addition, students are strongly encouraged to participate in school activities and clubs both as a way to broaden their own experiences in the United States as well as to become an integrated part of the school community thereby allowing for more cross-cultural interaction with American students, educators and others.

Local Coordinators
  The program has trained individuals in each community in which a student is placed who serve as the Local Coordinator. The Local Coordinator is responsible for placing the student with an appropriate family, coordinating enrollment in the local high school, providing host family and student orientations, regular monitoring of the student's progress, and dealing with any issues or problems as they arise.

Application Procedure:
 
  1. Complete the application materials provided by ACES.
  2. Take a standardized English test and interview conducted by the ACES Partner.
  3. Pay the program fee.

Students
  Students are carefully selected through a rigorous application process that includes a standardized English language proficiency test, an interview, and a detailed application form.
Minimum Qualifications:
  • 15 to 18.5 year old school student.
  • C+ (75%) overall grade point average in his/her home country.
  • 3 years of previous English study in a formal class.
  • Maturity, good character and scholastic aptitude.
  • Motivation to spend a semester or academic year living with an American host family.
  • Eagerness to experience daily life in the U.S. and awareness that the program is not a trip or a tour, but a homestay/high school exchange program that requires work and effort and results in fun and learning.
  • Appreciation for the helping hand and support that will be given by the host family.
  • Good health, adaptability and flexibility in adjusting to a different culture.
  • No previous participation in an academic year or semester secondary school student exchange program in the U.S.
  • Will return to his/her home country within two weeks of the end of the academic term in which the student is enrolled.
  • Financial resources to cover the program fees and expenses, including personal spending money.

Testimonial
  Coolness to come.


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