By Megan Kelley
Review Writer
ORION TWP. — As Lake Orion Community Schools prepares for the start of a new school year, the district’s foreign exchange student program is also gearing up to welcome new students and is looking for host families for the upcoming 2023-24 school year.
Host families receive a $400 monthly stipend to offset the cost of hosting students, and exchange students have their own health insurance, cell phone and are responsible for their own expenses.
This is a full school year commitment with students expected to arrive one to two weeks before the start of the school year and will depart one to two weeks after the school year ends.
The SEVP (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) is a high school-aged program run by school guidance counselor Michelle Novak.
The way the program works is relatively simple, the students who arrive, arrive on an F1 Visa through their country which allows students in grades 9-12 to come to the United States and attend one year of public high school.
Students can arrive 20 days before school starts and must leave the U.S. within 60 days of the end of the school year.
Lake Orion High School does all of this through the international student company Student Management Group, which does the screening for host families and provides the students to LOHS.
Last year, LOHS had 31 international students from nine different countries: Brazil, Chile, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain and Vietnam. Of these students, 14 were seniors who earned their high school diploma and three had made plans to attend college in the U.S. this year.
Anyone who is interested in hosting a student, or has additional questions about the program, contact Novak at 248-431-3098 or 249-693-5640 or email michele.novak@lok12.org.