The Semester Effect

Can you really form a strong bond with an exchange student in just a few months? Sarah and Mikayla Engel-Streicher, a couple from Wisconsin, would say yes. They've welcomed three students into their home for a single semester each, proving you don't need a full year to bring the world home. We'll hear how their short-term experience connected them more to their local community and how those relationships with their students from Austria, Germany, and Belgium are still going strong years later. You'll also hear directly from two of their students, who share what that time in Wisconsin meant to them.

Their story shows that you can get the full impact of AFS even if you only host for a few months. We are always looking for both semester families and Welcome Families, who bring students in at the very beginning of their program. We hope this story encourages you to get involved!

Guests:
Sarah Engel-Streicher 
Mikayla Engel-Streicher
Laura
Helena

More from AFS-USA: 🏠Host a Student | ✈️Study Abroad | 🤝Volunteer | 🏫For Educators | 📧Contact the Show | 🎧Collections

Chapters

• 1:52 Sarah and Mikayla Introductions
• 5:29 Hosting Experience
• 14:46 Laura from Germany
• 16:30 Helena from Belgium
• 18:47 Value in Hosting for a Semester
• 21:34 Visiting Former Students in Europe

Transcript

Kate Mulvihill
Hello and welcome to The AFS Exchange. I'm Kate Mulvihill. On this podcast, we share real stories from the AFS community. We're here to explore how exchange programs change lives, one conversation at a time.

Sarah Engel-Streicher   
In these times. You know, things can feel a little bit chaotic, but I think focusing on the good that AFS is doing by bringing everybody together, it feels really good.

Kate
Is it possible to form a bond with an exchange student-  and see the life-changing benefits of bringing them into your home- if you're hosting for less than a year? Well for Sarah and Mikayla, the answer is a resounding yes.

This past March, I spoke with Sarah and Mikayla Engel-Streicher from Wisconsin, a couple who have hosted three students for a single semester each. We  call these students, well, Semester Students. They’re simply students who only plan to stay for half of the academic year- either from August through early January, or from mid-January through June. Hosting a semester student is, in most ways, just like hosting a year-long student... it's just shorter!

In this episode, we'll hear about their motivations behind hosting, how the experience has connected them more to their community in Sheboygan, and how those relationships have continued to grow for years after their students' departure. AFS trainings and strong support from their local team have helped make each student’s program- and Sarah and Mikalya’s hosting experience- a success.

So, let’s hear from Sarah and Mikayla about their time as host mothers for students from Austria, Germany, and Belgium.

Mikayla Engel-Streicher
My name is Mikayla Engel-Streicher, and this is my wife, Sarah Engel-Streicher, and we live in Sheboygan, Wisconsin with our five cats.

Sarah Engel-Streicher
Yep, and I work in IT. I work remote. So I'm at home primarily.

Mikayla   
And I'm a nurse, and I work, I work at night,

Kate   
Okay, so very much not working from home.

Mikayla
Correct.

Kate
Okay, um, five cats. Tell me about these five cats.

Mikayla   
We just kind of slowly acquired them through the years, accidentally. More than anything, it just kind of fell into our hands. People just kind of had cats and offered them out to us.

Kate   
Okay, five. I mean, I would love for people to just give me cats. I have one. I wouldn't mind four more.

Kate
Sarah and Mikayla already had a full home, but they were still looking to add another member of the family.

Kate
All right. So why did you decide to start hosting exchange students?

Sarah   
Yeah, so we started to host because we couldn't travel as much as we wanted to in the past few years. And we're really big travelers. We like to go anywhere international as much as we can, but we couldn't. So we're like, let's bring the international culture to us. Like, why not?

Mikayla   
Yeah. And both of us, growing up separately, had international students in our schools, and you know, each of us wanted to host, but neither of our families ever did, so this is just a really cool opportunity for us to actually be able to do that. We have the space, not a lot of people do, so we're really lucky in that way.

Sarah   
We got a call from our local coordinator, hey, do you want to host? And we're like, let's do it. And the next week after that, we had our students, Anita, matched with us. And so we just kind of went for the ride and just decided to see where it was going to take us. We're really excited, but also very nervous being first time host parents, but it couldn't have worked out any better.

Mikayla   
Yeah, I would say that, you know, AFS all the training beforehand was also really helpful in just saying to, like, really embrace everything, and also with the rules of the house, and just being firm with that right from the start. And I just felt like she was also just a really good match for us too.

Kate
AFS provides all host parents with training beforehand. Online learning modules, but also a Pre-Arrival Host Family Orientation, which is held in person or via Zoom. And of course, each student and host family is paired with a liaison, a volunteer with extra training on how to handle common situations that may arise during program.

Sarah   
So even though we didn't really know what to expect, they kind of gave us situations and prepared us for pretty much anything we could think of. And we have really great coordinators in our area, so there was lots of support, even though we're really nervous, but, but yeah, it was wonderful.

Kate   
I'm glad to hear that. And yes, I mean, obviously trainings are accessible to all host parents and that, you know, everyone has a liaison all over the country, but I do know that Wisconsin is solid.

Sarah
Very.

Kate
I'm not saying that the other places aren't. I'm just saying I've heard that Wisconsin is very solid, so that's great. Anita was lucky. Anita was lucky in a couple of ways, great.

Kate
Sarah and Mikayla welcomed students into their home in August of 2022, 23, and 24. Each of them staying through January. In less than six months per student, the Engel-Streicher family still experienced the full reality of hosting and truly got to know their girls. And in that short time, their students also got the full benefit of the program- getting involved in school activities, making friends, improving their English, and becoming more confident.

Sarah   
Our first student, Anita, she was from Austria. She is great. We love her dearly. We still are in contact with her. So yeah, she was our first experience, and it was absolutely wonderful. And she was the one that got us hooked to this, so we're really grateful for her.
And then our second student was Laura from Germany, who was also absolutely fantastic. She was our artistic student, very good drawer.
And then our most recent student, who we had was Helena from Belgium, and she actually just left a few months ago, so it's still a little bit sad, but she was our most fearless, courageous student. She was a cheerleader. She really embraced everything, and she was our funny child, I would say.

Mikayla
For sure. Like, even before school, she made friends so she could go to this senior sunrise event, which was before school had even started. So she didn't even know anybody, but she was determined to find somebody and make friends right away, which is just something I can't imagine ever trying to do when I was that age.

Sarah   
Yeah, and I think for all the students, just in general, I was so surprised how brave they are to just go into the situation and say yes to everything. They're so open. And, you know, these are just teenagers. So I was just so surprised to see how mature they are and how open they are to all these new experiences, which was great.
And then I think another thing which was interesting is that through the internet and social media, these students have exposure to American culture online. So when they come here, they actually know a lot more than I thought they would, which was really interesting. So that was cool.

Kate
Sarah and Mikayla do their best to set their students up for success even before they’ve set foot in Wisconsin, forming a connection before they arrive. It's also about understanding their students' priorities and goals for their time on the program.

Sarah   
So before our students arrive, we try to communicate as much as possible to get to know each other, because we do host, as of right now, only semester students, so we already have a limited time while they're here to bond and build a relationship. And so part of the communication process, I would. Ask them, like, what activities do you want to participate in school? And like, what are your goals and what's your bucket list? Of course, too. And with Helena, she had that goal from day one, I'm going to be a cheerleader. I'm going to make it happen.
And I will say one thing that we highly encourage our students to do, is to get involved in a school activity immediately upon their arrival, if it's possible, of course. But our school is so supportive and wonderful to our AFS students, and no matter what the situation, they always include them in everything. It's a great way for them to meet friends before school starts. So we highly encourage it, and it's worked out really well.

Kate   
And it's, I imagine it could be interesting to watch these students participate in activities that you yourselves did growing up, but also ones that maybe you didn't do like cheerleading, and it's like, okay, so what is, what is this like, beyond what I remember seeing other kids do in high school, what is it really like behind the scenes? So you mentioned that the team in Wisconsin has been great.
Are there a lot of students specifically in your area?

Sarah   
So currently, this year, in our small area, not our AFS area team, but the smaller area, we have 15 AFS students. So we are very, very lucky to have such strong support from our schools. One of our schools nearby has actually eight AFS students just in that high school.

Kate   
That's great. So that's really a gift for the students who you host, that they have a community so close by.

Sarah   
Yes, the community is huge.  And when the students first arrive, our volunteers try very hard to get the students all to build relationships with each other. So right off the bat, they have a support system. They have friends before school starts, so they don't feel alone, because it is hard. It's challenging for these, you know, students to come over here, and I think the community we build within our AFS team is so lovely, and it really makes as a host family, everything easier, too.

Mikayla   
I feel like it really speaks to our community, having so many kids, because that's a lot of families that are opening up their homes and their lives to people, and I really feel like that just speaks so well of the communities around us in Wisconsin.

Kate
These experiences have also helped Sarah and Mikayla get out of their comfort zones. By getting involved with their local AFS community, they've got to meet other host families and volunteers.

Kate 
So over the years of hosting how have you connected with other host families?

Sarah   
So prior to our students arrival, there's always a host family and liaison orientation that we host in the summer, and that is a great way for everybody to start connecting before the students even arrive. And then throughout the year, like I mentioned, our team puts together different activities. So over the course of that time, all the families become familiar with each other. I give a lot of credit to our volunteers in our area for promoting all the relationships and building our community.

Mikayla   
For sure, and it's really just also funny how small the world can be. Like, we've found people that are also hosting that, like, I work with that I didn't even know was a host family for AFS for, like, multiple, multiple years. So it's just really funny how you have these international students, but they bring you so close to your own community.

Kate   
Absolutely. And I mean Sarah, you said you work from home, so perhaps you're interacting with folks, like on Slack or Teams or whatever, but like you are, you are solo, you are in your bubble. So this, I would think that you know being able to, like, go out to the grocery store and like, recognize some faces must be nice.

Sarah   
Definitely, for me, it's been so great to have this AFS community, and it's really forced myself to get out there and participate. You know, go to football games and volunteer at the school for the booster club, things like that. And I really enjoy being forced to get out there because now I see so many people I recognize, and it's great.

Kate
That feeling of connection- of finding community with people who were once just acquaintances or distant coworkers- this can be a powerful benefit of hosting. But for Sarah and Mikayla, it also developed into something more: a greater sense of purpose and responsibility.

Mikayla   
I think we’ve both become just more open and put ourselves out there, more with our neighbors and our community, and just really embracing life.

Sarah   
I would also say that I feel more responsible in our community to educate everybody about international relationships and global connections. Like through our students, I feel like it's kind of our job now to speak up and talk about how important it is and just keep on promoting it as much as possible, especially in these times. You know, things can feel a little bit chaotic, but I think focusing on the good that AFS is doing by bringing everybody together, it feels really good too.

Kate
The connections Sarah and Mikayla have made truly go beyond a single semester. So, we’ve now heard about their experience, but what about the students? Well, I got audios from two of their former students, who shared what their time in the Engel-Streicher home meant to them.

First, Laura from Germany- the artistic one. Then, Helena from Belgium- the fearless one.

[Music]

Laura
Hello. My name is Laura. I'm from Germany, and I stayed in the US in 2023. My time in Wisconsin was very teaching and awesome. I learned a lot about American culture and the many differences the country has from Germany. The people in our city were always very friendly and welcoming, and my host parents brought me to many events around town. Especially coming from a very small town in Germany, the livelihood in Sheboygan and all the other towns around was a very nice change of pace, and I thought it was quite exciting to experience the American day to day life.

Living with an American family was a completely new experience too, especially because we had five cats. The life together was quite different from the one I'm accustomed to. I had to get used to different house rules and behaviors that were different from my usual day to day life. 

But life with Sarah and Mikayla was always very fun and exciting. Every time I wasn't at school, Sarah found a lot of fun activities for us to do together, and then got to do all the things in my bucket list. They are both amazing people who made my stay unforgettable, and I'm very grateful to have met them and glad we still stay in contact and give updates to each other on a regular basis.

My experiences in the US definitely helped me change as a person. My social skills and confidence improved by having to find friends in a completely new environment, and I discovered a new hobby in basketball that I still like to do.

Even though it was hard for me at first to get close to people and find friends, I managed to make some wonderful friendships, and I still keep in touch with them from time to time. I'm very, very grateful for my host family, and for being able to make this experience. And I would recommend an exchange year for everyone who's open to it.

Helena
Hello. I'm Helena, and I'm from Belgium, and I lived in Wisconsin for six months. I really enjoyed my time here. It's such a beautiful state with such beautiful places. 

At home, I have a family of six people, and then in the US, I was an only child all of a sudden, which was a really fun experience. I really enjoyed my stay. I loved going to school and always being able to go back home to a loving house where I felt comfortable after being in new situations every day was very fun, and it was just amazing. 

Living in the US has always been a dream of mine, and I'm so happy I was able to fulfill this dream together with Sarah and Mikayla. They were truly an amazing host family, and I loved every day of it, and I would give anything to go back. It's been a year ago since I started my exchange, and right now I'm getting messages from memories and things like, this was a year ago, and it's so crazy how I did all of that. 

One of my favorite things still is the cheer games. Together with the girls from the cheer squad, they truly became one of my best friends, but also the other girls on the exchange with me from other countries, who I became incredibly close with because we were sharing the same struggles or the same highs. 

I would really recommend this to anyone who's interested, and I would recommend going with an open mind and be ready for change, because isn't always a bad thing, and just really enjoy it while it lasts, because it goes over way too quickly. I already revisited my family this summer, and can't wait to go back. And next summer, they are planning to visit me and some other friends that I met in the US too. So it really is not just those six months. It goes on for the rest of your life. It's so beautiful. So thank you for listening to my story.

[Music]

Kate
I mean, just listening to those audios, you can hear the impact. It's a reminder that all of this- these bonds, these memories- came from just six months with a host family in the US.

Kate
So I know that you have hosted three, soon to be four, semester students. For host parents, what is the benefit in hosting a semester student? Why not just not host at all if you can't do the full year?

Mikayla   
Well, I feel like you still get that relationship with the student. And also, there are semester students that exist, and they need families too. And for us, it's kind of nice to have a shorter commitment, because we feel like we can do it almost every year in a row for however many years we want.

Sarah   
And to add to that, I think hosting semester students is a really accessible way for people to get involved. I understand like the cost of living is going up, and things in general just are more expensive. So I know a year long, it can be quite a commitment, and a semester is a lot easier for some people, and I would say that for us too, of course. We still like to travel and do our own thing. But I really encourage families to look at semester students if they're kind of worried about that year long commitment, because you still build those relationships. You get that extended family, you get the experience. And like Mikayla said, there are students that need homes.

Kate
And these relationships can truly last! Of course, the connection will look different once a student goes back to their home country, but it doesn’t have to end- it just changes. Last year, Sarah and Mikayla had the opportunity to reconnect with their first two students on their own turf-  Anita in Austria and Laura in Germany.

Mikayla   
We've been really lucky to be in contact with all three of our former students still, and having had, you know, one of them visit us, and we've been able to visit both Laura and Anita and meet their families. And that's just been such a privilege to have our family grow so much.

Sarah   
Yeah, and it's so comforting to know that we have a global family like all around the world. It's so great, and to know that we can go visit and we have people we can connect with, and Helena, our most recent student, is coming back this summer. Already. She only left, like two months ago, but she's coming back. So we're very lucky. We could keep in contact regularly on WhatsApp. I would say, We message multiple times every single week. Actually, we're very lucky.

Kate   
I'd love to hear a little bit more about your visit to Austria and also, I guess, to Germany. What was it like discovering their homes the way that they discovered your home?

Mikayla   
Yeah, it was really cool. So we visited and met up with Laura and her family, actually, at a zoo. We planned this meeting because we were traveling for a little bit visiting some friends we have in Europe, kind of all over the place, and we were going to be just a couple hours away from where they live, but it was Laura, her brother, her parents, her grandparents. It was her whole family. And it was really fun too. We just spent hours there walking around and chatting, and it was so cool to see how her family functioned together. Because they live in Germany, but they're very Brazilian, and the kids grew up in Germany, so, like, the kids would speak German to each other, but with their parents, they would speak Portuguese. And it was just really unique to see their relationship, like right there.

Sarah    
Yeah. And it was really fun for us to be staying with Anita and her family and to see how they live every day and the little things that are different. What time do they sit down for dinner? What do they talk about at dinner? Where do they go grocery shopping? Just the little things. It's really interesting because, of course, she has context of how we live. She's lived it. But to go there, it's so different. And also to see our students in their environments, they act differently too.

Kate
This shows how a relationship can continue evolving even once the program is over. The benefits of those initial six months were significant, but if you have the opportunity to visit your student, you get a whole new understanding of their life. It's really a privilege to see them in their own element, learn about their culture, and witness just how much they've grown since returning from their time in the States.

Sarah   
Overall, it's been really rewarding, because in our situation, we don't want to have our own children, but of course, we want to support the children that are out there that are growing up, and especially teenagers, and in this case, that we get the opportunity to do that and make a impact on a young person's life forever. Which, who can say that? That's wonderful. So it's really been a blessing to be able to do that through AFS.

Kate   
Absolutely. And what advice do you have for other families who are considering hosting an AFS student?

Mikayla   
Yeah, just be open and ready for anything. I think it's just it's so fun to watch the students, their excitement about all the little things that are so normal here. Like look at the yellow school bus! And it's just everything is so new and amazing, and it's just fun to see things through their eyes. So I feel like, you know, it's really important just to embrace everything.

Sarah   
I would say, to just dive in and do it. There's lots to think about, of course, but just give it a shot. It's wonderful. And almost every single person I've talked to in our AFS community has had lifelong impact from this. And you hear the stories, I'm sure you've heard on the podcast before, I've been to my students' weddings, or I went to visit their family, there's all the stories. Everybody has stories, and they're all so wonderful. So I'd say, just jump in do it, and I don't think you'll regret it.

Kate
Okay, thank you so much for talking to me this afternoon. Sarah and Mikayla, you know you've had three host students soon to be four, and I think the two of you are adding a whole lot to the team in Wisconsin, and so I'm really happy to be able to share your story with our listeners today.

Sarah   
Thank you for this opportunity. I appreciate it.

Mikayla
Thank you so much.

Kate
Sarah and Mikayla’s story shows that you don't need a full year to build a lasting connection to a different culture. You can truly bring the world into your home in just a few months by hosting a semester student.

And if you're looking for an even shorter commitment, you can also get involved as a Welcome Family. These families host a student for up to 12 weeks, giving them a warm and welcoming home before they move to their permanent host family. It's a great way to help a student get to the U.S. on time, and it's a perfect opportunity to try out hosting before you commit to a full semester or year.

If you were inspired by Sarah and Mikayla's story, or if you think a short-term experience might be a great fit for your family, visit afsusa.org/host to learn how you can open your home and change a life.

Kate
Thank you for listening to The AFS Exchange. I have a couple of things for you before we wrap up. First, I'm excited to share that we've updated the podcast page on the AFS-USA website. We’ve organized our favorite episodes into curated collections, making it easier to find episodes on specific topics- like the host family experience, study abroad student stories, the volunteer experience, and more. You'll even find a collection of my personal favorites, called Kate’s Picks. You can check out the updated site at afsusa.org/podcast.

Also, we're already nearing the end of our fifth season, but we’re looking ahead to Season 6. We'd love to connect with any AFSers who also have their own podcasts, whether you're a student, volunteer, or host family. It doesn’t need to be about study abroad. If you know of someone, or if you have feedback on this episode, please send an email to podcast@afsusa.org.
 
This podcast was created by Kate Mulvihill. Social media by Julie Ball and Nina Gaulin.