By CARA LORELLO
Staff Reporter
Regional coordinators for the national-nonprofit education organization PAX (Program of Academic Excellence) recently appointed Ronald Morrison, Medical Lake resident and a former high school math teacher, the community coordinator for the region.
Morrison will be in charge of interviewing families on the West Plains interested in becoming host families. Foreign exchange students come from about 35 different countries, in Eastern Europe, Asia, South American and Africa.
Headquartered in Port Chester, N.Y., PAX's academic home stay program for high school students is taking applications from families hoping to give exchange students the chance to learn more about America as a country by attending high school for one year in the U.S.
Morrison began his job in May officially, after seeing a newspaper ad asking for residents interested in becoming local representatives for PAX. It sounded appealing enough, he said.
“I am a retired math teacher, I taught for 40 years. Twelve years I taught at Northwest Christian schools, and also in Mansfield, S.D.,” Morison said, adding the job's schedule flexibility was nice too.
Three PAX coordinators currently work the Spokane area. For Morrison, “The area I'll be covering is mostly between Medical Lake to Sprague, plus Davenport, and I could include Liberty Lake,” he said. On average, Morrison said PAX admits up to seven students annually to local schools.
Working with foreign exchange students isn't something he's totally unfamiliar with given his teaching background. As a math teacher, including advanced placement classes, he saw his share over the years.
“Teaching math to these students was always interesting, I think, because the outlook the kids had toward math was so different than how our students here think of it. They're not as closed-minded,” Morrison said. Math isn't necessarily easier in other countries, he explained, but advanced placement classes are more the norm than they are in U.S. schools, if you were to compare curriculum.
“Most who came to me went right into an advanced math class, like calculus. Some could have even taught me in fact,” he added.
Most also know English as a second language as well, “Just not in a speaking capacity,” Morrison said, which tends to change once they arrive and start interacting with others and their host families. All PAX students who come to the U.S. must pass an English test before they're cleared.
“All PAX students have been carefully screened, speak English, have full medical insurance and come with their own spending money,” he said. Host families are asked to provide the student with the basic room and board, which should include a place to study and an environment that's supportive. Morrison, as community coordinator, will provide support to the family and student during the school year.
“To find host families, we're required to take references,” Morrison said. Applications for taking in students are being accepted now for most area schools, and most should be placed by the first of July.
“The exchange deadline may be sooner for some of the countries we work with,” he added.
Anyone interested at this time in learning more about hosting a foreign exchange student for the coming school year may contact Ronald Morrison at (509) 481-1993 on weekdays, or e-mail at [email protected].
To learn more about the PAX home stay program, call 1-800-555-6211, or visit online at http://www.pax.org/index.html.
Cara Lorello can be reached at [email protected]
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