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Jenny and Gautam Barot understand first-hand the feeling of coming to a new country and navigating a new culture. Originally from a large town in India, their personal experience is one of the factors that influenced them to apply to be a host family for a foreign exchange student this school year. The Barot family will be hosting a foreign exchange student from Germany this upcoming school year, which was organized with the help of Jennifer Baldridge (far right), an area representative with the Pan Atlantic Foundation. Faith Zochowski Jenny learned about the opportunity from Jennifer Baldridge's post on behalf of the Pan Atlantic Foundation looking for host families. Baldridge is a volunteer and Findlay-area representative for the foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that works with schools and families to host foreign exchange students. Gautam also knew of the experience a co-worker had hosting a student and how long lasting that relationship became. They still keep in contact many years later, he said. That was in the back of Gautam's mind, and when the post came up on Jenny's feed again a few days later, the couple decided to message Baldridge and begin the application process. Home is here This is the family's first time hosting a student, but they knew they would be the right fit. Jenny and Gautam, along with their daughter Neeti, have lived in Findlay since 2008 and hope to show their exchange student what America has to offer. "Being in this country as immigrants, we know the value that this country offers, the choices it offers and the freedom it offers." Gautam said. Baldridge has been working with the family extensively to go over their application and guide them in the entire process. As part of the application, both parties wrote letters to each other and shared what life is like, how the home works, what they do on a day-to-day basis and any rules for the home. The application was straightforward, and asked "many questions but necessary questions," Jenny said, and she would want the same for her own daughter if she were to live with a new family in a different country. They took great care in filling out their application to ensure their student would know what expectations they had. Along with the application was a mandatory background check and a reference from a third party who knows the family to ensure they were a suitable fit. Once the students and families completed this, Baldridge reviewed the applications based on shared interests. The Barots were given four candidates and selected Lilly Weber, who is coming from Munich, Germany, and will be a junior at Findlay High School. Both Weber and the Barots prefer a vegetarian diet, which was an important aspect that encouraged Baldridge to match up the families. Weber also enjoys cricket, which Gautam grew up playing and is excited to share with her. "Some families have certain things that they really want, and so we can go search for that and offer that," Baldridge said. School days Weber will be attending school with Neeti, who will be a sophomore at Findlay High School. Neeti is "just along for the ride," she said, but, as an only child, she's looking forward to having someone else in the house. "I'm excited for building a lasting relationship," she said. As a foreign exchange student, Weber will be expected to maintain a 2.5 grade point average and complete 16 hours of community service during her 10 month stay in Findlay, and Gautam and Jenny know that Neeti will be a positive influence in helping her meet these expectations. Since seventh grade, Neeti has completed 280 hours of volunteering for a number of different organizations, including many full-day camps such as discovery camps and soccer camps. She is also a member of Key Club at school, which is a community service club with many opportunities for volunteering through the school. "My family is already very big on giving back and the community service aspect, so just being around that type of environment will be a good prompt just subconsciously," Neeti said. Jenny also shared that she is always willing to volunteer and never had to push Neeti to follow in her footsteps. It comes "naturally" in the family, she said. Through the application, the family also wanted Weber to know how much they immerse in both American and Indian culture and how they like to travel around the world. As a family, they have visited 25 states and 13 countries. Neeti wants her to experience "all these types of things that are inherently American," such as American football games, high school homecoming and barbecues, to name a few items on their list of over 30 activities they hope to introduce to Weber. Along with American culture, she will also share her Indian culture and already plans to attend a traditional Indian dance concert in Columbus this September with Jenny. She attends every year and purchases her tickets as soon as they go on sale. When she bought her tickets last month, she asked Weber if she would like to attend, and she happily obliged. Be prepared The Barot family knows there will challenges, and they plan to use their personal experience to aide Weber in acclimating to a new country. When coming to America, Gautam and Jenny first found themselves in New York where Gautam was working at the time. Even though they come from a big town in India and were used to the big-city population, Jenny still experienced that feeling of missing her family and knowing how far away they were. On a recent phone call with Jenny, Weber shared that she feels comfortable writing in English but still struggles at times to speak the language, which Jenny also dealt with upon coming to America. "We know her challenges from our challenges, and we are prepared," Jenny said. Although Neeti was born in America, she too can understand the change Weber will experience from a student's perspective. Neeti skipped a grade in school when she was younger, and it was hard going from one grade to another and making new friends, she said. She is looking forward to being a friend and familiar face for Weber, even though she will be a grade below her. "Challenges are there of course, we anticipate that. There will be emotional changes that she will feel," Gautam said. "I value that she is driving her ambitions, and she wants to come and do things. That takes courage." Weber will be arriving sometime in August to prepare for the school year, and the family is eager for her arrival. They encourage other families to think about being host families themselves. "If we have exchange students coming from country to country, university to university - it would open up a lot of possibilities for students who live in this town," Gautam said. Neeti, who visits India often and tells her friends about her trips, is excited to have a student from Germany not only live with her, but also come to her school. "It's a great way to show lots of people that even if you can't go to that country, you can still learn about it just by having...people coming to your grade or your school," Neeti said. "Not a lot of people have that opportunity, and having someone coming in from somewhere else is a good way for them to learn about a different country and just open their minds a bit more." Find out more For information about becoming a host family, visit iwanttohost.org or email Baldridge at jennifer@baldridge.biz