CLAY COUNTY — With many foreign exchange students looking to call Florida home this school year, Greenheart Exchange is currently searching for host families in the area. 

Up until Aug. 31, local families have the opportunity to welcome an international high school student into their homes for just one semester or the entire school year.

Greenheart local coordinator Wanda Cox said the incoming students will be chosen from a range of over 50 countries including Germany, Italy, France, Spain, China and Japan. 

Along with a willing heart, Cox said that each voluntary host family is required to provide the student with their own bed and three meals a day. The student is allowed to share a bedroom, however the roommate must be five years younger or older. 

Cox said the students will have their own health insurance and money for their personal expenses. 

“Give them a quiet place to study, whether it’s a desk in their bedroom or a kitchen table,” Cox said. “But just make sure they are able to get their homework done and have a nice place to study.”

Cox said they also ask each family to help provide exchange students with access to sports and other extracurricular activities with the parent’s discretion. 

“They’re still being parents and we want them to treat them as their own child,” Cox said. “So, they would make those decisions based on how they would treat one of their kids.” 

Cox said that the overall purpose of the program is for students to be immersed in the English language and the American high school experience. She said that for a lot of the students, coming to America is the ultimate dream. 

As a local coordinator, Cox said her job is to facilitate the process and be a source of support and empowerment for the student. She said it’s amazing to see the impact that the experience has had on each student. 

“It really jumpstarts their adulthood by giving them independence to start making decisions on their own,” Cox said. “And to know that they have come to a foreign country, lived with a family that they didn’t know, go to a new school, make friends and they are able to succeed at that.” 

Cox said she has seen students come here and do things that we otherwise take for granted, such as making smores, going camping and riding in a go-kart. 

 She added that in addition to trying new things with them, they will also be bringing new things to the family.

“It’s not just you, what you’re doing for them. They give back a lot to you,” Cox said. “They’re going to share their culture with you, they're going to cook some of their dishes and you’re going to get to have the excitement of showing them and doing things with them that they’ve never done before.” 

Cox said there is no limit on how many students can be placed in the county, just how many host families they can find and how many schools have seats available. 

“If I learn that a school has some open seats, I work really hard to find a family in that area,” Cox said. 

 Cox said there are background checks and vetting done on everyone 17 and older in the home. From there, the family fills out an application and Greenheart Exchange visits the home for further inspection.

Once everything is approved, Cox said the families are presented with a selection of student biographies based on their wants and who would best fit their family. 

“We ask them a lot of questions in our family interview,” Cox said. “And then we go through a database and we start searching for students.” 

Families are then asked to choose one. Once the family accepts a student, they will then receive their name and picture.

Even with the Aug. 31 deadline, Greenheart Exchange is still hoping to find enough host families and welcome the students in time for the new school year, which begins on Aug. 13.

 If there is someone you know that may fit the bill of being a host, Cox also said that Greenheart Exchange will be giving away a $1,000 virtual Visa gift card to anyone who refers another family and that family ends up hosting an incoming student. 

Cox said the gift card will be sent out shortly after the student’s arrival.