October 26, 1999
Contact: Mike Ediger, international student services, (785) 864-3617.
LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas hopes to have more than 30 families host international students in their homes during in the 1999 Betty Grimwood Thanksgiving Homestay Program.
The homestay program offers residents in Kansas and the Kansas City area opportunities to be hosts to international students over the Thanksgiving holiday break, from Tuesday evening, Nov. 23, to Sunday afternoon, Nov. 28. Families are also needed to be a Thursday host to one or more international students for Thanksgiving dinner.
Families wishing to be a homestay host should call Christian Lutz in KU's Office of International Student Services at (785) 864-3617 by Nov. 1.
Joe Potts, director of KU's international student services, said that host families from several cities in Kansas have regularly participated in recent years. In addition to Lawrence, hosts have been from Burns, Emporia, the Kansas City area, Lecompton, Marion, McLouth, Olathe, Peabody and Topeka.
About 31 families participated in 1998, an increase from 1997 when 19 families participated, Potts said. A major reason for the increase was due to the program being more widely publicized, Potts said.
KU has 1,547 international students on campus. The homestay program is targeted for new students so that all who want to visit a family during Thanksgiving will have an opportunity. Sometimes students are invited to return each year, however.
This year, KU's largest group of international students is from both India and from the People's Republic of China. Each country has about 125 students studying at KU. South Korea, Japan and Malaysia also have large numbers of students enrolled at KU for 1999-2000.
"The value of this program is often further down the road when international students have returned to their home countries," Potts said. "As they progress in their careers, they often are in positions to influence the way their government responds to the United States.
"This is foreign relations at the grass roots level. Sadly, many international students return to their countries never having been in the home of someone in their host country," Potts said.
KU keeps one residence hall open during Thanksgiving break. All other residence and scholarship halls close at 11 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 23, and reopen at 8 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 28. McCollum Hall remains open and provides guest rooms for students living in residence halls who register in advance for Thanksgiving break.