Farmington family hosts child of prior exchange student

FARMINGTON -- A family has hosted so many foreign exchange students that they are now hosting a "granddaughter," the child of one of their earliest exchange-student "sons."

Rich and Carol Bundsgaard hosted German student Stefan Klemmer in 1996-97 when they lived in Jonesboro.

Fast forward to 2021 and sitting at their table in their home outside Farmington in Washington County is Klemmer's daughter, Fiene. She's a high school junior enrolled in eight classes at Farmington High School and a member of its soccer and track teams.

Fiene wasn't supposed to be with the Bundsgaards. Her original placement was with a family in Texas, but the placement didn't work out, and she joined the Bundsgaards on Sept. 9.

Carol Bundsgaard said she knows firsthand that placements sometimes just don't work out.

With a wry laugh, she said she almost gave up on being a host family after their first exchange student in 1994, a boy from Denmark. She said the boy wasn't interested in being part of the family. He was soon placed with a different family.

The experience was so disheartening that Carol said she wanted to give it up, but Rich said, "Let's give it another try." They were successfully matched with Matthias in 1995-96, then Stefan in 1996-97.

WALL OF PORTRAITS

The Bundsgaards have hosted 20 students, and of those they keep in regular touch with 17, now 18 with the addition of Fiene. They decided to host only boys to give Rich "gender equity." Their daughters, Valerie and Kim, smile from the center of 19 framed photographs arranged on a special "Wall of Shame," as Rich calls it. Carol said they are waiting on Fiene's photograph, which had just been taken at Farmington High.

Rich showed off snapshots of him holding Fiene -- pronounced FEE-na -- as an infant and with Stefan and Fiene when she was a toddler. Everyone teared up, appreciating the happy, somewhat miraculous circumstances that led to Fiene being placed with them. Fiene said she is "with family," people she has known her whole life, her Opa (German for grandfather) and Babcia (Polish for grandmother, pronounced BAB-cha).

Fiene, who has long, blond hair, blue eyes, a fresh-faced complexion, and a smile a mile wide, said her father is her role model, and she loves her family and younger siblings very much. Talking about her family awakened a hint of tears, and her face contracted a bit. Besides missing her family, Fiene said she misses Milka, a German brand of chocolate, and her father's spaghetti bolognaise.

Rich Bundsgaard looked on with sympathy and said parents aren't encouraged to visit the U.S. during their child's stay, and students aren't encouraged to return home until the end of the exchange time because of the interruption it makes in having a full immersion experience.

Fiene said she talks with her parents every Sunday, and upon that statement, her face relaxed again, remembering that a call would happen soon. She said she tells her friends back home "people are friendly," and the countryside is more open, more spacious, and "having cows for neighbors" is interesting.

"The U.S. is so big," she said.

PLACING STUDENTS

Several factors worked for Fiene to be placed with the Bundsgaards. For one, her parents had the resources. The more specific parents or students are about placement, the higher the costs. Rich Bundsgaard said a year costs $10,000 to $11,000, on average, without making specific placement requests.

The other reason Fiene could be placed with the Bundsgaards is they didn't already have a student. Carol said they stepped away from hosting after the 2013-14 year because they felt, after hosting for 19 years, they needed to let other families in on the fun.

However, when they learned about Fiene's situation, they said they completed the required paperwork and took steps to be certified as Council For Educational Travel USA hosts, because that is the program Fiene is here with. They hosted all of their other years through the Academic Year in America program.

The Bundsgaards' practice of building family w0ith their students fosters contact after their exchange year. Stefan Klemmer invited them to his wedding in Germany, and the Bundsgaards have visited the Klemmers several times since then. Rich said he and Carol have attended five of their boys' weddings, and they have visited or met up with their "sons" over the years.

"We call them our international families because we clicked," Rich said. "We have especially bonded with seven or eight families."

Rich and Carol are retired. Carol taught school for 38 years, the last 20 at Farmington High School in English and broadcast journalism, and she taught and advised the school's yearbook and radio station.

Rich retired several years earlier as director of the University of Arkansas Printing Services. Carol explained that Rich's job included attendance every four or five years at an international printing conference, usually in Germany. That allowed Rich to see some of their exchange sons more often than she could; however, she said, both of them have made it to Europe numerous times.

Lisa Brecht, regional director of the Council for Educational Travel U.S.A., echoed what Carol and Rich listed as characteristics that host families need for a successful experience: Besides being open-minded, host families will have better experiences if they are, as Rich said, "accepting, understanding of different ways of doing things, willing to accept unintentional criticism, open to conversation, flexible and intuitive."

As an example of being intuitive, Rich talked about what to do if an exchange student is invited to a party. He said host parents need to ask questions about who will be there, how their student will get there and back, if adults will be present -- all the questions parents ask their own children. He said a host family needs to ask those questions to care for the students, to assume responsibility for them and keep them safe.

A host family is expected to provide a bed with a frame that is reserved for the student alone, three meals a day with an extra place setting at mealtimes, and some transportation along with "an open heart" and "offered guidance," but Brecht emphasized "parents are not at the exchange student's beck and call."

Brecht, a Clinton resident, said the Council for Educational Travel U.S.A. takes "nearly every mixture of family you can imagine," including single-parent homes and homes in which the hosts are not biological parents themselves.

She said the Council for Educational Travel U.S.A. looks for host families who are not biased or judgmental and who offer experiences that expose their exchange students to a well-rounded, supported, immersive experience.

    DENISE NEMEC SPECIAL TO ENTERPRISE-LEADER Rich and Carol Bundsgaard of Farmington with their 20th exchange student, Fiena Klemmer from Germany. Klemmer is attending Farmington High School this year.
  

Learn more

For more information about Council for Educational Travel U.S.A. and serving as a host family, contact Lisa Brecht at 870-917-5354 or at [email protected]. Visit www.cetusa.org for additional information about the exchange program in general.

CETUSA is governed by the Department of State/Homeland Security, Brecht said, and every host family and exchange student is screened.