Ashley Steiner
ASSE MN Coordinator

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

Some 200 teen-agers from nations around the world dream of spending the coming school year in Minnesota. They need families to welcome them. Will yours be one?

Ashley Steiner hopes so. As the state coordinator for ASSE, a State Department-sponsored student exchange program, she already has found one Moorhead family to host a young man from Denmark for the coming school year, and hopes to find at least two more.

“It’s a fantastic experience for both the student and the hosts,” she says. “The only cost to the family is providing a bed and three meals a day – and free meals at school count. The young man or woman will pay for their own school fees, activities and all their other expenses.” Hosts are also responsible for transportation when public options aren’t available, since exchange students cannot drive while they are in this country.

Ashley knows what she’s talking about. The mother of three, all 12 and under, has hosted seven young people so far in her home in a small town on the eastern border of Minnesota. “A lot of families look forward to the foreign language aspect, but there’s much more,” she says. “You get a taste of their culture, including the foods they love. You get to celebrate holidays that may not be familiar to you. You get exposure to new experiences that you’d never have in any other way.”

The Steiners have welcomed seven high school students from Spain, Italy, Canada, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan over past school years, and are awaiting a young man from Greece later this month. “My kids are very excited,” she suggests. “Our 12-year-old really loves having siblings from all over the world.”

The beginnings of ASSE, the organization that arranges the exchanges, date back to 1938, when the Swedish Ministry of Education arranged an exchange program between Sweden and Germany. After World War II, it expanded to include Great Britain, France, Spain and Switzerland and later the United States, where ASSE was established in 1976 by the Swedish government as the American Scandinavian Student Exchange. Soon Denmark, Norway and Finland elected to participate. Today It maintains 38 offices in 35 countries and accommodates more than 30,000 high school age students and host families annually.

While families with children of the same ages are the first that come to mind, Ashley points out that older couples, too, can “adopt” a high school student from abroad for the coming school year – or even, if they wish, for one semester. “Maybe you’re not ready to be an empty nester and have an extra bed,” she suggests.

The first step, if you’re considering becoming a host, is to request more information on the ASSE website, www.asse.com. You’ll be connected with one of the program’s coordinators, who can tell you much more about what the program entails and what you can expect. You may also call Ashley directly at 715-307-1612 or email her: ashley@asse.com.

You can also find out about the young people who are awaiting host homes for the coming year. Among them: a 16-year-old male from France who loves climbing, soccer, hiking, golf and board games; a 15-year-old Spanish girl who’s a fan of yoga, Zumba, cooking and running; another 16-year-old boy from the Netherlands who’s into boxing, soccer, fitness and swimming; a 16-year-old Serbian male who enjoys tennis, volleyball, animals and weigh-lifting; a 15-year-old Pakistani boy fond of biking, cooking, cricket and hockey; a Kenyan girl, 16, interested in handball, dance, peer counseling, reading and writing; and a Danish girl of 15 who sings, plays electric guitar, cooks and claims to love cold weather.

“If you’re interested, get in touch with us,” Ashley says. “You’re not committing to anything when you ask questions. Let’s just see if hosting one of these great young people for nine months would be a good fit for you.”