BETHLEHEM, Pa. — In June, when her junior year is over and summer vacation begins, Liberty High School student Helena Perera will board a plane, change flights a few times, and return to Spain — the Canary Islands, to be exact — to reunite with her parents, her two cats and her dog.
She’ll have a lot to talk about, having spent the last 10 months more than 3,300 miles away.
“I know I'm going to be crying, my parents are going to cry,” Perera said, in her very refined English. “My grandpa will too. He can be as tough as he wants, but he’s such a sweetheart. He’s 82. I call him mi abuelo. My eldest.”
Perera is almost at the finish line as an international exchange student withASSE USA, a group that pairs foreign students with families abroad. Originally named the American Scandinavian Student Exchange, it involves more countries today.
"I have great friends here, and it will be difficult to get back here to see them again."Helena Perera, exchange student from Spain
Perera got dolled up in a two-piece red and floral dress and danced the night away with friends Friday night at the Liberty High prom, held at SteelStacks.
She'll take the Keystone Exams state assessment tests, has a best friend she shares laughs and movie nights with, and says her best memory of the school year was spirit week and dressing up in themed outfits.
“It's been an amazing year,” said the bubbly teen in her very improved English she has honed since September.
Perera is painfully honest when she says she thought about not going back — more than once.
“It’s been amazing,” she said. “I think it’s a great experience. Everything is new.
“It’s very emotional. I’m very, very close to my host family. It’s the three of us in the house, and I love them so much. We joke around, they really make me feel part of the family, and I really don’t …. ” She paused. “I’m having a … a dilemma. I am missing Spain and my parents, but I don’t want to leave. I’m having a great time. I have great friends here, and it will be difficult to get back here to see them again.
“So I'm trying to enjoy this time, and I will be happy once I get to see my family and friends back home again, and still keep in touch with people from here.”
Perera’s host mom, Eva Burkhart, and Burkhart’s daughter, Alicia, 23, a behavioral therapist, gush just as much over Perera.
“It’s been a wonderful experience. Helena fit right into our family and adjusted quickly and has enjoyed every moment of her stay,” Eva Burkhart said.
It’s not the family’s first time hosting an international student and probably not the last.
Repeating the process
“We hosted again based on past experiences," Eva Burkhart said. "Exchange students have always brought extra flavor and fun to our family. It’s been very rewarding to offer young students a wonderful adventure like this. We’ve gained extended family across the world and look forward to doing it again.”
Burkhart said she knew the space was there in her home, and in her heart. She connected with the high school and met with the area rep to make sure everything met the criteria.
“Other than that, all we had to do was make a welcome sign. I would say to anyone on the fence, please do it! It’s an incredible and rewarding experience for the family and students alike.”
International Host Family Week is recognized the second week of each May.
Mirella Romualdi is the PA/NJ area coordinator for ASSE International, the exchange program that pairs international students with host families in the United States and the one that placed Perera with Burkhart.
Besides placing students with families, Romualdi also is a host parent, with her partner.
“I have two children who are grown, so we’re empty nesters. We’ve hosted. It’s delightful. We sit at the dinner table and talk, and talk, and talk. They're curious about so many things. Health care. Education. Taxes. They don't really think about these things in their own countries. It’s not until they come here,” she said.
“They’re very interested in our democracy, our economy and everything.”
Romualdi admits it’s hard to let them go and had a really rough time when "hers" left during a 2018 stay.
“When they’re here, my extended family loves it," she said. "They have these three boys who are part of our lives now. One boy’s whole family came for Christmas here. We've also met up and vacationed together with another. We FaceTime, text, five years later, and we’re still close. That’s the beauty of it.”
“We’ve had many a volunteer host mom and dad really miss their student,” she said. “They just enjoy it. They like the company.”
You don’t have to be a parent or be a couple to host an exchange student. Romualdi mentioned a retired couple who hosts every year.
“Those students who are the only child in the house sometimes work out better,” she said. “There are less dynamics going on. If they want to join something, a club or a sport, there’s only one student in the house to focus on. That’s the sacrifice in that situation. Our students don’t drive. They bus to school, but those extracurricular activities they get driven to.”
Taking it a step further
Samuella Donnelly's family hosted an ASSE exchange student more than a decade ago when her own two children were still at home. Now Donnelly is an area representative for the organization.
“I never thought I'd do this, but it’s kind of in my wheelhouse in a way. I have worked with international students all of my career,” said Donnelly, a retired English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher from Hanover Township.
Then, in 2022, she and her husband welcomed Francesco Filippi, from Sardinia, Italy, for the spring semester of his junior year of high school.
“It really was a fun experience. Is it super easy? No. They’re teenagers. It doesn't matter what country they’re from. They’re learning a new culture, and so are you,” Donnelly said.
ASSE encourages host parents to treat their exchange kids like family. In the Donnelly household, the kids cleaned their own bathrooms, did their own laundry and cleaned their rooms. Filippi spent time with Donnelly doing things around the house. He taught her how to make pasta. She taught him how to wash his own clothes.
“It was hysterical," she said. "He learned how to do it. Since it was winter, he had brought a lot of fuzzy warm jogging pants and sweatshirts. The amount of fuzz in the dryer and the washer was unbelievable. He was like, 'What is all of this?' I was like, 'I don’t know!'”
Donnelly and her husband Jay took Filippi around the Lehigh Valley, including to Dorney Park, IronPigs and Phantoms games, and on day trips, such as to New York City. Since they both worked at the time, the boy fended for himself after school until dinner was made.
“At first, I don’t think he was thrilled with American or school food, and meal times," she said. "He was used to coming home from school at 2 p.m., eating the biggest meal midday, like in Europe, and then at 8 p.m. eating something smaller. That didn't fit our lifestyle. But he got used to it.
“I tended to keep frozen DiGiorno pizzas in the freezer and other things for snacks. He thought they were delicious. The schedule he may not have liked, or have been used to, but the point is to learn about American culture from A to Z.”
By text last week, Filippi had this to say about his experience as an exchange student: “I had a super good time! (They) are a wonderful family! (heart emoji!)”
The Donnelly and Filippi families have since spent time together in Sardinia, and they still keep in touch via social media or What's App.
The Bethlehem Area School District does the language screening process that they do for ESL students who move here. If needed, they are put in that class.
Getting to know the students
ASSE has a strict vetting process. On its website, there is some information about students currently looking to come to the U.S. Students list their hobbies, likes, pets, and other logistics. No photos are provided until further into the process.
“As a protection for the kids,” says Romualdi. “You can see their interests, letters they’ve written to host families.”
Once Romualdi has the application, she connects with a rep, like Donnelly.
Donnelly works with Romualdi and secures the small details — that aren’t small if you’re thousands of miles away from home — like allergies and other medical needs if they exist, and even a dinner or a hike out with a student periodically to check in and see how things are going.
“You don’t have to live in the suburbs to do this. You’re buying the food, you’re putting a roof over their heads, and you’re maybe taking them on day trips...this is essentially you treating them as you would your own."Samuella Donnelly, host parent and ASSE USA coordinator
“You don’t have to live in the suburbs to do this. You’re buying the food, you’re putting a roof over their heads, and you’re maybe taking them on day trips or even on the family vacation, as long as you clear everything with the school and organization,” she said. “This is essentially your child for this amount of time, and you treat them as you would your own.”
For the 2023-24 school year, there are 40 students Romualdi oversees, mostly in Pennsylvania and New Jersey this year. Students must be between 15-18 years old.
When Perera steps off the plane once back home on the island, she says one thing in particular will help her re-acclimate to the life she knew before Bethlehem. Taking Mr. Wilson, her little white West Highland terrier, for a walk, a void she filled by walking Bonnie, the Burkhart’s rescue dog.
“She has these cute little dark eyes and she just stares at you, especially at the dinner table. It's cute and sad, because she is waiting for you to give her some of your food,” Perera said.
Did she give in? “Well, yes, of course.”
As for Perera’s night at the prom? The heart emojis in her text emphasized her response.
“I enjoyed every second! It was G-R-E-A-T!”
