Foreign Exchange Students Visit Banning Police, Fire Stations, SoCal

BANNING, CA—Nearly 20 Banning and Beaumont families opened their doors and hearts to a group of foreign exchange students this year. While the 32 foreign exchange students and four teachers were lodged and cared for by local host families, they all shared culture and ideas as they learned a little about southern California life.

The students hailed from Saint Joseph School in Monteferruer-Sur-Lez, France, host mother and Envision program volunteer Brenda Aguilar told Patch. During the week, the students toured the city and learned a bit about life and school in Southern California. They traveled further afield, heading as far south as San Diego.

The Envision program has become a tradition for many Pass Area families, sharing their homes to high school students. Families like Aguilars have hosted for 14 years, with a brief stoppage during the coronavirus pandemic. She has consistently opened her home, making her family theirs for a season.

This year, nearly 20 Banning and Beaumont families opened their homes to the traveling students.

"Every day is different," says Brenda Aguilar. Most recently, the students toured the police and fire stations.

"Next, we are going to Beaumont High School, where the exchange students will shadow other students and learn what a typical day is like for a high school student in the Pass Area."

When students travel across the globe for a "total immersion" into another culture, it creates a unique bond, she says.

Aguilar and her family have formed lifelong friendships with their students and have even visited some of their original guests in their home country, as on a recent trip to China. "I've gone back to visit some of our first hosting students, and they also have come to visit me," she said.

"I'm Hispanic, myself, but I never met people from other parts of the world until we started being a host for the Envision program," she said. "Our first students were from China, and now we have students from France."

If you are interested, she recommends looking into the process of becoming a host family. Each prospective host family undergoes a background check and a home check. "It has to be clean and safe for the visiting children," she said.

Agular's daughter, an ASB student at Beaumont High School, was recently awarded a scholarship to offer a free trip to Germany, and she will chaperone, she said. Now, her daughter will have the experience of being a foreign exchange student herself.