Becoming a Global Family

Ever wondered what it's like to have a new brother every year? Justin and Chad, a couple from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, can tell you! They've been hosting AFS students for years, and their 3-year-old son, Everett, has grown up with a global family.

In this episode, they share stories about the impact of hosting on their lives and the lasting bonds they've formed with their international sons, and Everett's brothers. Hear how their family has been introduced to new cultures, experiences, and even the challenges of raising a teenager, years before Everett will become one. While there have been ups and downs, they've felt well-supported by AFS throughout their journey. This episode is a testament to the benefits that couples with young children can gain by hosting an exchange student- or seven!

Guests:
Chad Bauman
Justin Dunleavy

Study Abroad with AFS-USA: www.afsusa.org/study-abroad
Volunteer with AFS-USA: www.afsusa.org/volunteer
Host with AFS-USA: www.afsusa.org/host
Educator Resources: www.afsusa.org/educators
Contact us: podcast@afsusa.org

Transcript

Kate M.
Hello and welcome to The AFS Exchange. I'm your host, Kate Mulvihill. On this show, we delve into unique perspectives from members of our AFS family, providing insights that only international exchange experiences can offer.

In every episode, we open the door wide to welcome the voices of those whose lives have been profoundly impacted by AFS. This is a place to have conversations, or exchanges, with AFS host families, students, volunteers, and educators.

Kate M.
Justin Dunleavy and Chad Bauman live with their three year old son Everett in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Before becoming fathers to Everett, Justin and Chad were AFS host fathers, welcoming students from the other side of the world into their home. And after Everett’s arrival, they kept hosting.

Chad B.
We made the decision not to adopt a second child, but we did not want our son to grow up as an only child. And now he has a new brother every single year, and those brothers adore him. And so it is incredibly heartwarming to see that.

Kate M.
Through AFS, their son Everett has gained seven brothers from six countries. Justin and Chad are not just learning what it’s like to parent a toddler, but also how to parent teenagers! In this episode, we’ll hear from them about their experiences as hosts throughout the years, what they've learned about different cultures, and the impact hosting has had on their family in Wisconsin.
Spoiler: the impact is a net positive, and their 3-person family has expanded to include young people from all across Europe.

[Music]

Kate M.   
Hello and welcome to The AFS Exchange. Chad and Justin, I'm looking forward to chatting with you about your experiences hosting throughout the years and the impact that it's had on your family's life. To get started, could you please introduce yourselves?

Chad B.
Sure, Justin, you want to go first?

Justin D.
Sure. I'm Justin Dunleavy. I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin or suburbs close to Milwaukee. Grew up in West Virginia, but I'm now a proud Wisconsinite, and I've lived here for over 10 years now.

Chad B.   
And I'm Justin's better half.

Kate M.   
Okay, and let's see. So just to get started, I would love to hear about your history with international exchange, travel and Justin. I know you spent some time in England in the early 2000s. Could you talk a little bit about that experience?

Justin D.   
Sure, I caught the travel bug very early in life, and I was always fascinated by life in other countries. I wasn't able to do an exchange year myself when I was in high school, but our high school had several exchange students, and I formed a kind of an exchange student club, welcome club and welcome committee. So I got to know a number of students from different countries in high school, and I remember in particular, I became very close to a French exchange student and a Finnish exchange student, and they've gone on to be lifelong friends. I ended up spending time with them, we all met in Paris at some point, and spent a few weeks together, which was an amazing experience.
And then when I finished undergrad, I actually got the opportunity to go work overseas at the British House of Commons, so I worked for a member of parliament over there for three years, and then pursued my graduate studies in England, and ended up working another year at a healthcare nonprofit based in London, and then transitioned to working for the US federal government in Washington, and started my federal government career in 2009.

Kate M.    
Alright, okay, that's, that's an extensive that's, that's a lot of experience, starting from when you were in high school, not being able to study abroad yourself, but getting to know folks from different parts of the world, and then spending, what did you say, five years in the UK?

Justin D.   
Five years living overseas in the UK, yes. It was an amazing experience, particularly in London, because London is a melting pot of the entire world, just like New York is. And so I got to know people from all over the world. And in fact, I shared a house with people from Brazil, people from Australia, people from South Africa. I mean, it really, truly is, although we were in London, I probably spent more time with other expats living there.

Kate M.   
That's great. That sounds like such a valuable experience. Yes, you are going outside and hearing English, sure, but you are living with folks from different countries. You're trying food from different countries.

Justin D.   
Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

Kate M.   
And Chad, could you tell me about any history you have with study abroad, travel, or international exchange?

Chad B.   
Yeah, it was a little similar to Justin. We. Had exchange students that are in our high school, and we got to be pretty close friends. And then in college, I did some study abroad, also in London, and really enjoyed that, and it broadened my perspective. And so when Justin approached me about hosting an exchange student, I think we both had really positive experiences prior in life, and even though we weren't parents at that time, it was something that we were both open to.

Kate M.   
Okay and yes, getting into that. How did you first get involved with AFS specifically?

Justin D.   
Sure. So we had several moves in our lives. We went from an apartment to a house, and so for the first time in our lives, we had extra bedrooms. And thought to ourselves, it's a shame to leave these bedrooms empty, particularly when our school, our high school, is walkable too. So we thought, now is the right time. Let's host an exchange student. We were not really familiar with the ins and outs of how to go about that, so we did some googling. We came across a different organization that we ended up, you know, registering with and hosting exchange students through. But it just so happens that AFS has a big presence in Wisconsin, and the school club is an AFS club, and it just sort of over time we realized that AFS just had more support available, more of an infrastructure, just more of a presence in Wisconsin. So we started hosting through AFS the very next year.

Kate M.   
Okay, yes, that is something that actually surprised me when I first started working for AFS, that so many students were going to Wisconsin that there's just like a really big hub of really great supportive volunteers and schools in Wisconsin.

Justin D.   
Well, what was funny is we had a Spanish exchange student named Javier last year, and it just so happened that his brother, all of his brothers, and his parents and his grandparents have all done AFS years. And purely by coincidence, his brother and one of his brothers and he both ended up in Wisconsin. So Wisconsin definitely gets its fair share of exchange students. And I think that's great. It shows that people here are generous and interested in other cultures.

Kate M.
So over the years, Chad and Justin have hosted 7 students total, from Norway, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Spain, and Finland.

Chad B.   
So our first student. We actually got our first student because he had to move houses. Not because anything poor happened, but he just needed a new house because the family that he was in had three children under five, and it was a little active. And we knew that family really well, and so they called us and said, Hey, would you mind hosting Gard for the rest of the year? And we said, yeah.
So we had Gard from Norway, and he kind of had the benefit of having two host families, his original host family, and us, and we kind of continued that for the rest of the year.
Then we had Jannick from Germany, and unfortunately, Jannick’s time got cut short by COVID. So he was with us through March of that year.
And then we had the COVID year where we had committed to two different students, but they both were rolled over, and we were in the middle of an adoption process at that time. And so in 2021 we ended up hosting Mathias from Denmark and Wojciech from Poland, and we had a five month old when they came. So we went from a house of zero kids for a year to a baby and two teenagers for a year, which was actually a lot of fun.
And then we had Tome from Spain, and then we had Javi from Spain, and we just welcomed Ilkka from Finland last week.
So we have seven boys, and I think somebody forwarded to AFS a photograph of us. We've told each one of our boys that we wanted to come to their communities and meet their families, because we got to be really close with all their families as well. And yet, all of a sudden, now we have six different, all these different countries to go to.

[Spanish music]

Chad B.
So we decided to go to Spain this year and rent a house, and we sent out a note to them, and we said, hey, if anybody's interested, come to Spain, we'd love to have you for a week of vacation. And all six of our boys came, and so it was incredible to see. They all consider themselves brothers now. They all really enjoy each other, and we had a great vacation with them. And so we're still our oldest is 22 and our youngest is 17, and it's really great to see how they continue to grow and mature in their lives after their exchange year. And we're in contact with them regularly. So it's great to see that.

Kate M.   
And yes, I saw, I saw the photo. I believe Marketing shared that with me. And I don't know if you hired a professional photographer, or if the iPhone is just, like, really good these days, but there's like this nice sun. It looks very professionally done.

Chad B.   
Well, we did hire a photographer because we thought this was an extraordinary moment. We would help all six of our boys together. But we can't take credit for the Spanish sun that was the environment that that Spain gave us. It's beautiful there.

Kate M.
We’ll be posting this photo on AFS-USA’s instagram in promotion of this episode. It is a very sweet family photo.
Okay so, Everett was 5 months old when two of his host brothers arrived, Mathias from Denmark and Wojciech from Poland. Since then, host students have been present for a number of milestones in Everett’s life, including him learning to walk.
Justin and Chad themselves actually weren’t there for Everett’s first steps, but Mathias caught it on film, and in a characteristically nonchalant way shared the news via text.

Justin D.   
I have one memory in particular that will always stay with me, and that is watching our son as a toddler learn how to walk. And that's because our exchange son, Mathias had been working with him and encouraging him to take his first steps. And he had his phone handy, and so he actually captured Everett taking his first steps while Mathias was prodding him with a bag of Doritos.

Chad B.   
But even there, even there, the way that that was shared with us. We were in Florida, and we were on vacation, and we had gone to go get groceries, and Mathias was teaching our son how to walk. And we get this video. He texts us a video, and he says, I taught your son how to walk. You're welcome.

Kate M.   
Like a very deadpan, like factual, like, this is something that happened.

Chad B.   
Yep. He's got a bag of chips, and he's like this. And our son is like, “Oh!” I tried to get some.

Kate M.   
It's great that perhaps some of your sons have never lived with a newborn or a toddler, that they are also having the opportunity to have a host sibling and kind of see what it's like to be with a little kid.

Chad B.   
Yeah, they're all very close to our son, but Mathias, in particular, I think, got really close. And he doesn't have any younger siblings. And so like, when we flew back to Europe this summer and Everett, our son, saw Mathias, you know, he would take a run. He was like, Matiti! That was our nickname for him. And they're like, best friends.

Kate M.
Just like when you're around young kids and get lots of "Why?" questions, hosting an exchange student brings its own set of inquiries. These questions can make you, as a grownup- or as an American- take a closer look at things you usually take at face value.

Chad B.
And they're also curious about American culture. And so they ask you questions about, you know, why are there 90 different brands of cereal, and why do you need, you know, 100 cookies per box? And you know, the size difference is very, very big, you know. Why do you need massive trucks in the United States? And so they ask these questions. Taking them to, for example, Costco for the first time is really entertaining, Like, it blows their mind. They're taking, like, selfies and pictures with things so they could show their family back home. So it's just sort of day to day cultural things that are really entertaining.

Kate M.
Let’s see. Have there been any particularly memorable misunderstandings?

Chad B.   
Oh, that's interesting. There's always, there's always misunderstandings, at least at first, around language, right? So, you know, it's funny, like, you know, Jannick, Justin always asks, in the first week, you know, “How do you feel about being with an LGBTQ family?” And I'll never forget Jannick’s response. He said, “You know, Germans are very tolerant.” And I thought that's a really interesting choice of words. And, and he circled back several months later. And he was like, “Tolerant was probably not the right word to use.” And he meant to say something like, open minded, right?
I remember our Polish son kept asking for “cola swa”. And Justin and I were like, What is “cola swath?” And then we finally had him write it out, and what he wanted was coleslaw. But if you, if you said the pronunciation, it can come out that way.
Our Spanish son, for the first couple of months, kept asking to be a “copalit.” We would go into the car, and he was like, I really want to be a “copalit.” And we were like, What is he talking about? We finally figured out that he wants to be the co pilot. He wants to sit shotgun in the car itself. And then we had to break his heart and say, Nope, kids are in the back. But he kept on asking to be the copalit. So those are just some examples.

Kate M.
Justin and Chad are learning about different cultures bringing in all of these students throughout the years. And Everett is getting to witness that.

Kate M.
So, throughout the years, as you mentioned, you've hosted students from Norway, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Spain, Spain, and now Finland. What have you learned about some of these other cultures? Like traditions, music, food, sports?

Chad B.   
Well, all of our sons have been really interested in sharing their culture with us, which is amazing, because we learn a lot about different cultures.
From, really, some more academic things. Like we talked to our Polish son quite a bit about the differences of American perceptions of World War Two, for example, with Polish perceptions of World War Two.
Like, there's that, and then, I don't mean to pick on Justin here for a second, but Justin told our, you know, our Spanish son, that he was going to cook Tortilla Española to Javi. And Javi tried it. He was like, this is Tortilla Americana. He's like, let me teach you how to cook Tortilla Española.
And so each one of them has taught us, you know, how to cook a particular dish. Or, you know, our German son, you know, taught us how to cook spaetzle and it, you know, so it's been a lot of fun. And then, of course, all of their families have also invited us to go and actually experience the culture.
We also flew to Denmark this summer and spent some time with Mathias' family. So it's, it's great to see their culture, and they have been great with sharing it with us as well.
You do get a wide range of interests. I mean, like, all of our sons are European. So of course, we ended up watching a lot of soccer on television. But they also have been very adventurous, and they try different things. So, you know, our Polish son tried pole vaulting. He's never done pole vaulting before. I had never gone to a pole vaulting competition before. You know, our Spanish son had never done diving before.

[Splash]

Chad B.
You know, he was starting the year off, and he was like falling in the water, and that was his dive. And then by the end of the year, he was doing somersaults and all that kind of stuff. So I think the other thing about AFS students is they're pretty adventurous, and they're open to trying new things. And when that happens, your family is introduced to so many different things that you normally wouldn't, whether that is culturally related or just who they are as a student.

Justin D.   
And some of the community groups in Milwaukee have hosted various events for the exchange students. Like I remember one local synagogue hosted a Seder dinner with a Jewish family, and then a service and question and answer. It was an opportunity for us to engage in something new, for our family, to expose our son to different things. And I know different churches and other community groups have hosted various events so we learn and we get opportunities to do things we may not have done through our exchange students as well.

Kate M.    
Absolutely. And like you're saying, getting more involved in your own community and getting to know parts of your own community that maybe you wouldn't have known otherwise. And Chad, I know you work in the theater. Have any of your host sons gotten interested in theater, joined the musical theater while they've been here?

Chad B.   
So, funny, we, of course,  bring our sons to the theater because that's where I work, and so they all enjoyed it. None of them have been actually involved in theater as an extracurricular. We have just by chance. We have just had sons that were really into sports, and now we actually are hosting, I think our first son, Ilkka, that's actually more interested in arts and culture than in sports, but he plays the cello, and he's been playing the cello for a good number of years, and has already communicated to us that he'd like to go to, you know, some concerts at the Milwaukee Symphony. And so I think we'll have a more cultural year this year than some of our other years.

[Cello]

Kate M.
As you can probably infer, Chad and Justin are a same-sex couple. I've previously interviewed two other same-sex families for this  podcast- one with children and one without. And uh, both of those families, and this one, had similar responses to the question I ask here.

Kate M.   
Okay, so I wanted to ask, is there anything noteworthy about your experience as an LGBTQ family hosting exchange students? Anything really different?

Chad B.   
Justin asks our sons that question, when they first arrived, they're like, “What do you think about, you know, being hosted by LGBTQ parents?”, and by and large, their responses in, “I didn't really think about it like it doesn't. It doesn't bother me.” It doesn't, you know, they're much more focused on like, how do I make friends? All these other things. So I think it's for us, we think we're a little bit more conscious about it than they are. And I think AFS does a really good job of talking to host students and families about their comfortability, about being placed with an LGBTQ couple, so that work is kind of done in advance, and we pick from the students that identify themselves as being comfortable in that area. And so it's been somewhat of a non issue with us.
And you know,  I'm the Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator here locally for our chapter, we have several other LGBTQ couples that host as well. So it's not, it's very normal for us. It's not any different than any other family, right?

Kate M.   
That's kind of what I thought you were going to say, and that's kind of what I was hoping you would say, that it's really, it's not a big deal. And you know, students who are coming to the United States are looking for a loving family who is willing to open their doors to a teenager for an entire year. And it doesn't really matter if that is one person, two people, a man and a woman, two men, two women. Great. So I'm so glad that you feel so supported by AFS USA and also that, Chad, I mean, you've taken on a leadership role in your community to help kind of increase the presence of diverse families in the area. That's great.

Chad B.    
You know, loving host families can come from every walk of life. And the bottom line is, we are all working towards giving students a great experience, and they're wanting a great experience. And so as a family, we've had an incredible time.

Justin D.    
Yes, and I would just add to what Chad said, that when you host an exchange student, it you often get the benefit of interacting with their friends and their American friends that they make, so you end up meeting a lot of people in your community, including other American teenagers who've become friends with your exchange student. And it was really uplifting for me to just see how much has changed, you know, since I was in high school, and how kids today are just so accepting of different families. And honestly, it doesn't even seem like a factor they really even consider.

Kate M.
Alright, okay. So, and obviously, we know that welcoming an exchange student into your home brings a lot of positives, as you've covered, but sometimes there are challenges too. Are there any challenges that you’ve faced as a host family that you'd be open to sharing? And kind of how you overcame them together?

Chad B.   
I'll just say, one day and then third over to Justin. I think it's, I think it's caused our family to be better at communicating. You know, there's some cultures that are more direct. There's some cultures that are a little indirect. Usually, when there's conflict, it's because of a cultural difference that just needs to be addressed and addressed honestly and transparently. And then, of course, I mean, they're just teenagers, you know, their brains are not fully formed yet. They're learning, so you have to just give them some degree of, you know, latitude, just because they're teenagers and we expect them to have some challenges and to need some support.
But every single one of our kids, I don't know if it's because AFS has done such a great job when when they interview and screen them, but, you know, we've had, we've had challenges with every single one, which is not to be expected when you're when they're staying with you for 10 months, but every single one of them was an incredible and great kid, and that makes the difference Justin.

Justin D.   
Sometimes people can forget just how challenging this experience is, emotionally, but also academically. These kids are thrown in what often can be challenging academic environments. I know that is true for the high school that our kids typically go to. They are not treated differently by the teachers. They are expected to perform at a certain level. They're not graded on a curve. So some of our students have struggled academically, and we've had to push in certain instances, or be there to help or to seek help, or encourage them to seek out opportunities for help. So we've certainly navigated that together. But it's always, I think, important to remember that academically can be a very challenging experience.

And the second thing I would note is that AFS has been super helpful about almost predicting the emotional ups and downs that inevitably come for these kids who are away from their families, away from their home countries, and AFS briefs host families about what those curves and ups and downs might look like, for example, I think I remember something about October. You know, they've settled in a little bit. Life is becoming a little bit more routine. And so sometimes you can, kids can experience homesickness. Same again, you know, over the holidays, holidays may trigger feelings of homesickness, and again, it's just sort of accepting that there's a natural cycle, and AFS really provides a lot of support to help families navigate those.

Kate M.   
Yeah. That's one of the things, when I talk to folks, if they've worked with other organizations, it's something that really kind of stands out about AFS. And I was going to say both of you have had international experiences before when you were younger, so you individually, kind of knew that there was going to be an up and down. But you know, often there are host families who didn't have their own study abroad experience, right? They don't. They don't really know that it's smooth sailing from August all the way to June. No, I mean, there's absolutely ups and downs, and you two know that personally from your own experiences. And also, yeah, AFS absolutely provides that support as well.

Chad B.   
Yeah, I think you actually pointed out something, Kate, if you don't mind me saying we the actual first time we had a hosting experience, it was with another organization, and it, I think it's fair to say it wasn't too positive for us. That was because we didn't, we didn't receive the support that we needed as first time host parents. And it was so funny, we had an AFS leader locally who saw us struggling, even though we were with a different organization. And she stepped in and was like, why don't you join our AFS group? Why don't you do that? And that's how we were introduced to AFS, because they were actually providing support for us as a host family, even though we were hosting with another organization. So when we decided to continue hosting, we knew immediately we wanted to go with AFS, and they've got such a great volunteer team locally that it's a night and day difference, and it's been an incredibly wonderful experience for us ever since.

Kate M.   
Great. I love to hear that. So you've already touched on this a lot with your answers so far, but I would like to talk more specifically about the impact that these experiences have had on your lives. So to start, if we're talking about personal impact, how have these experiences affected your personal development?

Chad B.   
Well, I mean, I can. It's easy for us to reflect on the trip that we just took this summer, which is, you know, we now have, besides the relationship we have with our boys, we have relationships with their families. And so we're very close with hobbies, mother and father and his grandparents. We're very close to, you know, Mathias’ family. We're very close to almost all of their families. So it's like we have a global family. I know it sounds a little cliche, but it's true, like we have family all over Europe, and so it is. It's expanded our family. It's introduced us to a lot of new cultures.
Our son, we made the decision not to adopt a second child, but we did not want our son to grow up as an only child. And now he has a new brother every single year, and those brothers adore him. And we have this digital picture frame in our living room that just rotates pictures, pictures, and he'll go up to that all the time, and he's like, “That's my brother so-and-so, that's my brother.” Anybody that enters the house, he loves telling them about his brothers all over the place, and so it is incredibly heartwarming to see that. And also, you know, my mother has got like, seven new grandsons that she just dotes over, and she's just incredibly excited about it.

Justin D.   
Just adds a lot of color to your life. Adds a different perspective. You start to, you know, just like I said earlier, the observations that they make kind of challenges some of, maybe some of your assumptions about sort of how things are, and watching the impact on our son is amazing. And just last night, you know, we were watching Netflix, and you know, Everett, our three year old, wanted to watch o ne show, but our exchange student wanted to watch another. So we just used it as an opportunity to say, “Look, you can't always have your own way. You know, everyone gets a voice. Everyone gets a turn.” So it's, you know, having exchange students, actually, I think makes us present those teaching moments more often, for our son.

Kate M.   
That's great. I was going to make some joke about watching Bluey. Was it Bluey what he wanted to watch?

Justin D.   
It wasn’t actually Bluey. But we have a lot of Bluey going on.

Chad B.    
What’s interesting is that our son also has children's books from around the globe, and they have the little children's likes, for example, Ilkka just brought over from his family, the bluey equivalent in Finland. And so we read stories about, you know, the childhood characters from Finland, right? And so that's a good he's, you know, Everett from day one is hearing different languages, being introduced to different cultures. And for him, that's going to be his life, which, you know, what an incredible addition to a child's life.

Kate M.    
Yeah, lucky, lucky kid. So I guess to just talk about the global impact that this has had on you. How has hosting influenced your view of the US or your American identity? Yeah? Yeah,

Chad B.   
It's interesting. I think as Americans, we aren't usually challenged to think about our American identity, right? We just live in it until you get questions. So we're going through an election period, for example, right now. When our son Gard was here, we were going through an election at that time as well, and he was in American Government, so he was learning about it. I took him voting with me, and I took him to hear the Republican candidate speak and the Democrat candidate speak, and I remember having great discussions with him about, “I don't understand the American political system, there's only two parties. In Norway, there's 14 parties.” And I never really questioned, I guess, the system that we grew up in, we just think that that's the system, and then it makes you think about, oh, maybe there's a better and different way of doing this, right? And so I think that an outsider's perspective makes you think about the American approach to whatever the situation is, and there could be a different response and approach.

Kate M.   
Absolutely. and having hosted so many times, you're pretty much professionals at this point. What advice would you have to give to families who are considering hosting an exchange student?

Chad B.   
I would just say, and this is what I talk to host families about, is that they're not guests in your house. They're family. And so you're going to be on your best behavior for the first couple of days. They're going to be on their best behavior for the first couple days. Soon enough, life happens, and that is perfectly okay, and that's where the real learning environment occurs. When there is conflict, when there is whatever the case may be, and so to embrace, it's part of the process. It's not supposed to be perfect. You're not going to be perfect, there's no such thing as a perfect host family. There's no such thing as a perfect host son. But you're all learning together and you're growing together. I think that's the goal of the program.

Kate M.   
And the big question is, why is intercultural exchange important?

Chad B.   
I think primarily as Americans, we actually have a more limited view than most of the rest of the world. I mean, the country is so big that a lot of people don't travel internationally, whereas in Europe, they travel internationally all the time, right? So I think it broadens my perspective a little bit. But if you think about, you know, post World War Two, and the divide and the world, that it's hard to not like somebody or something, if you actually get to know them as a human being, it's hard to have that divide. And so people think of others as others, whether you're LGBT folks, whether you're European versus American, whether you're Republican or Democrat, whatever the case might be, the whole world is set up to sort of divide. And AFS brings people together, because you start to figure out that at the end of the day, we might be different, but what our commonalities are really are stronger, and it's really what we can do together that's really going to matter at the end.

Kate M.   
Great answer. And lastly, at AFS, we talk a lot about passing peace forward. How do you hope to pass peace forward?

Justin D.   
Well, I think we passed peace forward by sort of living what you just said and setting these sending, hopefully sending our boys home with a different perspective on the United States and what it means to be American and what it means to be a global citizen, and what comes with that, what kind of responsibilities come with that, and how, what changes they might be able to make, because when they come home, they will see their own country and their own families and their own friends differently from this having been away for a year. So hopefully, they’ll reflect the values that they learned through AFS and being a global citizen.

Kate M.   
And you know their lives will reflect those values they picked up through AFS, but also through the two of you right through, through getting to know these two great guys in Wisconsin, and they'll be able to pass that forward as well. Well. Thank you both so much for chatting with me this afternoon. And you know you're, you're hosting your seventh exchange student. He's, he's a lucky guy, and I'm sure you're going to have a great year and maybe be watching a little bit less Bluey and a little bit more Finnish television? I don’t totally know what they watch over there…

[Music]

Kate M.
That was Justin Dunleavy and Chad Bauman from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A big thanks to both of them for sharing their experiences with us. As you heard, hosting seven AFS students has brought many positives to their lives, from expanding their family globally to providing valuable learning experiences for their young son. While there have been ups and downs, that's just part of the journey, and they’ve felt well-supported by AFS throughout. If you’re interested in hosting a student through AFS like Justin and Chad, visit afsusa.org/host. We are looking for host families for this fall 2024, but also for the spring. And uh, after that, soon, for fall 2025!

[Music]

Kate M.
Thank you for listening to The AFS Exchange! I’m Kate Mulvihill. Let us know what you thought of this episode by sending a message to podcast@afsusa.org. You can also rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe there as well so you don’t miss any episodes in this 4th season.

This podcast was created by Kate Mulvihill. Social media by Julie Ball and Nina Gaulin. Special thanks to Aileen Smith.