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Messages from YFU

Hello Host Families and welcome students!!!

All students have arrived safely and we had most of them at the landing pow wow on LIFE Day last Sat (Landing Information for Everyone DAY).
Thank you for carpooling and making the effort to get the students here. We had a beautiful day of weather and the support and participation from nearly all of our wonderful YFU USA volunteers! As we looked out on the sea of cultural diversity, we had ripples of goose bumps as we understand that these young people offer the hope of peace and unity for our planet.

Our main theme on Sat and throughout the year will be YFU Students are Cultural Ambassadors!!! They need to read their student handbooks from cover to cover. They are written in tandem with the Host Parent handbooks, which we hope you have also read, host parents, as they touch upon most any topic you need to know. A few questions came up on Sat that were addressed in small groups:

1) Teach your students how to dial 911 in the event of an emergency. Please explain what an emergency is.
2) Develop a code word for them to use to call you in the event they are at a teen gathering where there is drug or alcohol use, so they can alert
you to come rescue them. (Ex: ZERO, ZILCH, RESCUE, CURFEW, 007, etc.)
3) Students should not be paying for their own school lunch. They have the option of bringing a sack lunch from home if that is what you prefer.
4) Natural family members should not be visiting during the year unless it is for graduation in May/June & then only upon your invitation.
5) Boyfriends/girlfriends should not be visiting at all during the course of the year. It is disruptive and causes loyalty & school attendance issues.
6) Students cannot travel to visit friends during the school year, unaccompanied by their host family.
7) Exchange students may not go camping or out of town with other teens unless accompanied by a responsible adult over age 25.
8) Exchg stds may not drive jet skis/snowmobiles, but they may ride on them when driven by a responsible adult >age 16 & must wear a life vest.
9) Exchg stds may NOT take Driver's Ed course, and they may NOT get their driver's license while on program. They will be considered for an early return if they do so.
10) Exchg stds may take the city buses but they should not be riding them at night.
11) Exchg stds may spend overnights with friends during the course of the year as long as adults are present.
12) Computer use is the biggest issue confronting host families. We told the students 1 hr/day which includes homework. We recommend not more than one call per wk back home (better 1x/mo) to friends or families and usually Sun eves are a good time. Emails/texting every day should NOT be happening. They interfere with adjustment, make culture shock worse, & stds are sending their energy home, instead of investing it here.
13) Stds should now have rec'd their insurance cards & information. If they have not, please notify us right away.
14) YFU Trips were introduced to stds on Sat. Info from the tour co. will be mailed directly to them by Nov/Dec. More about that @ next Orientation.

Our local YFU website: www.yfumn.org will contain the Calendar of Events for our social and orientations dates. Host families are welcome and encouraged to participate in our social events. Our POST-ARRIVAL ORIENTATION (2 options) in Oct is the last required orientation for the Host Families, but the students will need to attend the

Post Arrival in Oct, Mid Year in Jan and the Re-entry in April. Trust the information on the web site.

Our next big outing is the Riverboat Cruise on the St Croix on Sunday, Sept 21st. Check the website for details and call us for questions.

For orientations, students need to understand that their attendance is required, and take precedence over extracurriculars. Noncompliant students often have more difficulties and makeup sessions cannot offer the interaction that a group setting would. Please put these dates on your calendar now so that they take precedence over any other event. We must furnish documentation to the State Department that students and host families have attended each orientation as mandated by CSIET, our governing body. Please also note that the

Harvest party will be held on Nov 1st at the Drill Mellum Farm west of St Bonifacious on Hwy 7, and south 1 mile on Cty Rd 155. Also note that we do need to change some dates over the course of the year, for good reason, so try to be flexible w/ regard to social event dates/times.

All students are processing culture shock to some degree. Please call us for updates. Remember that communication is a two way street. If you have not been called by a volunteer to support your family and your student, please call Robyn or Betsy. We have Directories available as well as YFU hats and we will have them available for sale at the Riverboat Cruise as well as the Post Arrival Orientations.

We thank you for all you are doing on behalf of these wonderful students and YFU USA!  - Field Directors