Farmington Hills Family Welcomes Familiar Foreign Exchange Student

A friendship Farmington Hills resident Lynn Halton formed in high school with a foreign exchange student will come full circle next month.

Marina Courtaut, 17, will arrive from Spain in August to spend the school year with the Halton-Balogh family. Courtaut's mother, Esther, first met Halton as a foreign exchange student 25 years ago.

"I was her best friend here," Halton said. "A few years ago, Marina came here, and our daughter Carli (Balogh) spent three weeks there. Marina liked it so much, she wanted to come and study here."

Carli Balogh, now 19, is a student at the University of Michigan.

Halton and her husband, Jerry Balogh, looked into doing a private exchange, but the red tape involved with establishing guardianship led them all to Youth For Understanding – the same organization that arranged Esther Courtaut's exchange. The nonprofit group has programs in 64 countries and is one of the oldest and largest exchange organizations.

Marina Courtaut will spend her senior year at during her nine-month stay with the family, which includes Trent Balogh, 16, who also attends Farmington High, and Amanda Balogh, 11, a seventh-grader at . 

The families have been emailing for months and are counting down the days until the end of August.

"We're so thrilled," Halton said. "She got along with the family so well when she was here."

Halton is also excited because Esther Courtaut plans to visit the U.S. halfway through her daughter's exchange year. "I haven't seen her mom in 25 years," Halton said. "It's so cool we get to reconnect."

Youth For Understanding still needs homes for exchange students. If your family can help, visit yfu.org.