Host a Student

Host a Rotary Foreign Exchange Student for the 2025-26 School Year

The Hudson Daybreak Rotary Club invites you to consider hosting our incoming foreign exchange student, Valeria, for 3.5 months during the 2025-26 school year. She is from the Canary Islands, which are a part of Spain, but well south of the mainland. Valeria is 16 years old and is already fluent in English. 

Each year, we have three host families share the joy of hosting our exchange student(s) as a team.

  1. Host family #1 sets up the student for American life, gets a lot of "firsts," sees a huge amount of growth in the student, can provide a lot of guidance and hand-holding, culture shock is real, and a tight bond can form. They can be a part of the student's life in a special way all year.
  2. Host family #2 hosts from just after Thanksgiving until Spring break. Now the student is hitting his/her stride in terms of language, friends and understanding how we tick; is excited to experience winter and the holidays; can also have holiday homesickness or the winter blues. A family that embraces winter can be a great fit.
  3. Host family #3 hosts from Spring break until Valeria’s return home in late June. Host family #3 position is already filled!

I'm interested in hosting. What's next?

Send an inquiry to our Club’s Youth Board Member, John Duntley via email at john.duntley@gmail.com.

Know a Hudson Daybreak Rotary Club member? Let them know you're interested! 
 

Who can be a host family?

Here's a little-known fact – any Hudson area family has the potential to be a youth exchange host family! 

  • Families with small children
  • Families with no children
  • Single parents
  • Same-sex couples
  • Young people
  • Retirees
  • People who have never been parents
The most important quality of a host family is a sincere desire to welcome a young person into their family. The rest boils down to the mysteries of chemistry.

What support does Rotary provide?

  • The host family has the entire Rotary Club available for transportation and for planning activities with the student!
  • The Rotary Club also pays for all school lunches, provides a $100 per month stipend to the student, provides a cell phone network, provides many student activities and trips, provides a school yearbook, and pays for most school extracurricular activities.
  • The student is assigned a Rotary Club Counselor in case the student needs some guidance or support beyond what the family can provide.  The Counselor also maintains a joint checking account with the student and helps the student enroll in classes and other school activities.
  • Note: The student will have their own quality medical insurance.

What is expected of a host family?

Host families should provide a welcoming home, with a private bedroom or a shared bedroom with a child of the same sex, but a separate bed. Making sure students get to school or activities is important, even if the host family is coordinating with Rotarians to make this happen. 
 
Here are a few misconceptions about being a host family:
  • Being a host family does not mean you have “company” for three months. Students will not expect to be a guest. This is about having another family member for three months (and sometimes longer). From the moment the student comes into the house, they are treated as one of the family, complete with chores and responsibilities! 
  • Host families don’t have to be “perfect”. You don't have a perfectly clean house or serve perfect meals – nobody is perfect. You get to continue to be yourself. If you are tired and don’t want to make dinner, pizza is ok! 
  • And although students should be treated as family, host families are not expected to take their students on trips or indulge them in any way other than providing a safe and loving home. If another student gets to go to Big Sky with a family, that was never expected; that was just a lucky student.