Bill and Patty Vigneron will retire from being host parents this summer after hosting eight countries in their home.
Hosting foreign exchange students for 23 years has been an education for the couple, helping them create connections and family across the world.
“And it just makes the world closer. It doesn’t seem so far apart and so distant and so unusual,” Patty said.
Through this experience, the couple has brought the world to them, from Germany to France to Norway to Moldova to Sweden to Denmark to Italy to Spain.
The couple’s first cultural exchange student experience was in the late 1980s. Bill’s Rotary Club sponsored a student from Sweden who stayed with them for three months.
The Vignerons said they did not have the best experience and decided to not host another student.
“I said I would never, ever do it again,” Patty said.
Then in 1995, the couple received a call asking if they would host a three-week cultural exchange student who was part of a dance troop visiting Kansas State University.
When they spoke with the student on the phone, Bill said the student made a significant impression on him. But Patty was still unsure of the hosting experience.
“He had to talk me into it,” she said.
After about a month of discussion, the Vignerons decided to host Irina from Russia.
Bill said Irina became sick during her time here and had to go to the hospital due to the change in her diet when staying in Eudora. He said he was asked by the doctor and nurses who Irina’s father was.
“And I said, ‘Well, I guess,’ I said, ‘I’ve known her for a week now.’ It was a little bit awkward,” he said.
Irina knew little English, which made it difficult for the medical staff to communicate with her.
“But they found a family not far from the hospital that spoke Russian,” Patty said.
Despite the awkward start, the Vignerons said they were so impressed with Irina during her stay that they started to consider hosting a year-long foreign exchange student.
In 1998, the Vignerons hosted their first year-long foreign exchange student. At first, they were not involved in a specific exchange program, but in 2000 the couple became local coordinators for the Aspect Foundation.
Through this organization, they hosted Katja from eastern Germany. Bill said Katja was one of their biggest success stories.
“And it was amazing. It was the best transformation,” Patty said. “We were so proud.”
The Vignerons usually visit their former students every other year by traveling to the foreign exchange students’ countries and staying with their families.
“I get involved with a history of all these places these girls are from because I like to know something about them that we have something in common we can talk about,” Bill said.
After Katja’s stay with the Vignerons, they visited her home in Germany. Bill said he remembered visiting a concentration camp near Katja’s home.
“I didn’t want to say anything. It could be a sensitive issue,” he said.
The Vignerons said Katja did not know the historical events of the concentration camp memorial they visited.
“So, when we got back from the car, she started sobbing,” Bill said.
Patty said this was just one of the eye-opening experiences she and Bill have had when they visit the home country of their foreign exchange students.
For the Vignerons, being able to create connections with their exchange students and their families is one of the most rewarding parts of being a host family.
“We’ve gained friends, lifelong friends,” Patty said.
The Vignerons are hosting Vega Dominguez from Spain this school year.
Dominguez said she has always wanted to visit the United States since she was 6 years old.
“I was going to come last year, but I couldn’t because of COVID,” Dominguez said. “And I really, like I wasn’t sure if I was going to come this year.”
Dominguez arrived in the United States at the beginning of August and will return to Spain after the school year ends.
Dominguez said her experience has been different in the United States compared to Spain.
“I really like the American culture,” Dominguez said. “The things that I don’t like about it is the food.”
In Spain, sports are not a part of school life. If a student wants to participate in a sport, they must join an outside competition team.
Dominguez said because of this difference she wanted to be a part of as many extracurricular activities as possible.
“We don’t have clubs or teams in our school. It’s just to study,” Dominguez said.
Patty said communication with their foreign exchange student is how they become comfortable with the student.
“We just treat them as one of the family and they’re not a guest, you know, they have chores,” she said.
The Vignerons have been involved with the school system since they moved to Eudora in 1986.
Patty said this involvement with the school and the foreign exchange student program has helped to keep her and Bill active, which is the reason why they have hosted for over two decades.
“And yeah, we enjoy having kids around and teenagers and being involved with the school,” Patty said. “And that was a good way to do that and keep ourselves active.”
Since the Vignerons first year-long foreign exchange student, they have developed some traditions to do with each foreign exchange student. Bill and Patty both attended Kansas State University, which is where they met, and have been fans since.
Bill said he and Patty are K-State football season ticket holders.
“Every girl goes to a K-State game at least once,” Bill said.
The Vignerons also give their exchange students some Wildcat gear throughout their stay.
Patty said two of their former exchange students were in Oslo, Norway, and recognized each other because they were both wearing K-State shirts.
Although the two former exchange students had not met each other before, they are connected through a Facebook group page the Vignerons created.
“We keep in contact with about 14-16 of our girls,” Patty said.
There are many guidelines put in place by the agencies to ensure the student and host family are the correct match, said Michele Dillon, a local coordinator for Council for Educational Travel, USA.
“I check the references. I do an interview with the entire family to make sure everybody’s on the same page that everybody wants to,” Dillon said. “I check the house. Once we do all of that, we look for students, so we go through the applications of the students. We kind of find students that are going to be a good fit for the family.”
She said Eudora High School only takes a certain number of students from the same agency per year.
“You could be a school that would maybe have five or six exchange students, and then from three or four different agencies,” Dillon said.
Host families provide their students with three meals a day, but all other expenses are provided by the foreign exchange student’s family or by a scholarship through the exchange program.
Dillon said the Council for Educational Travel, USA, requires the foreign exchange student’s family to provide $250 a month for the student to spend and, if the student receives a scholarship through the program, they receive $250 monthly.
“They’re responsible for their own school fees, their own toiletries, you know, for to go out with friends, prom tickets, things like that,” Dillon said.
Dillon is coordinating eight foreign exchange students and is in her eighth year of hosting in Lawrence. She said there are many rewards to hosting an exchange student.
“But, you know, I would just really encourage families to give it a try,” Dillon said. “I mean, you know, all you need is a room and three meals.”
The Vignerons said this year is bittersweet because they decided to retire from hosting to travel more often, but they are excited to visit their former exchange students this summer.
The Vignerons said they think everyone should consider becoming a host family.
“I think everybody should do it at least once and enjoy the experience,” Patty said.
Reach reporter Hannah Nystrom at [email protected]
