Why I Said Yes to Hosting: ‘You Don’t Have to Be a Perfect Parent’

In this Q&A, an Iowa host mother/local coordinator reflects on raising teenagers from around the world – and why she believes more families should open their doors to hosting. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)   

CIEE: Please introduce yourself. 

Shannon Johnston: My name is Shannon Johnston. I live in a small town in southern Iowa called Centerville. I work in optical. I have been with CIEE for the last two years as a host parent.  

I got involved with CIEE through Facebook. Such a random run-of-the-mill way of landing it. A post came up on Facebook and I was like, “Huh, I'd never thought about that.” I'd never even left the country myself at that point. And so I was like, “Why not?” 

At that time, it didn't work out where we could host because of our school district. So when my husband, Jarred, moved jobs, got a promotion, and was in a place where he could leverage it with his job, we jumped on board – and we haven't looked back since.  

CIEE: That's amazing. So it was more of a joint decision? 

Johnston: I think I had to convince him a little bit. When he became an administrator, he became concerned about the optics of hosting a student and having a student the same age as the kids that he was the principal of. 

We moved in the middle of August, and George, our first student, came from the country Georgia at the beginning of September.  

The city of Centerville didn't really know us without our student. So for them, he was our kid. All of Jarred's apprehensions went out the window. It just became where it wasn't that we were his host parents – we were his parents for all intents and purposes. And the same goes for our German student this year, Cem.  

The town loves it. And so my husband's embraced it. And I don't think that he's looking back now, either.  

CIEE: That is adorable. Was this the first kind of exposure that Centerville had had with a Georgian student or any kind of exchange student?  

Johnston: So another family had hosted girls in the past. Last year was the first time that the town had a boy – and they actually had two, because there was another family in town hosting through their church from Nigeria.  

I think that the city of Centerville embraced these boys in such a natural way. The community didn’t make them feel like outsiders at all. And I don't know if it's because of who we were within the community that they felt embraced – I think it has everything to do with who the kids were.  

George was so warm and bubbly and made everyone feel like he'd known them for years. And Isaac, the student from Nigeria, did as well. I think having those types of personalities really broke through some culture walls that otherwise would have been there.  

Cem, our student this year, has a core group of friends that are his own friends. They're not kids that necessarily hung out with our student last year. Seeing different groups get involved in this experience is what hosting an international student's all about.  

This town's forever changed by these kids.  

CIEE: It looks like Centerville is kind of covering the world at this point – Georgia, Nigeria, Germany. How has every experience been the same and different?  

Johnston: You have the same feelings when they're getting off the plane and you're like, “What are we getting ourselves into?” 

But then also it's the first like American things they want to try – Chick-fil-A or Crumbl Cookies. Panda Express is apparently a big thing overseas that I guess I've taken for granted my whole life.  

And so it's those firsts: the first football game, first Friday night lights, first soccer games – all those things that they've dreamed about their whole lives. It puts it into perspective for you as an American, how different life is.  

The same things are also those random Thursday nights where you're sitting up in the kitchen eating ice cream out of a tub because they had a hard test or they like a girl, but she doesn't like him back.  

Those Thursday nights eating ice cream out of the tub. That's my why. 

But the differences are the cultural impacts.  

George was definitely more warm and fuzzy. I remember his first pin at a wrestling meet. He came barreling up the stairs, wrapped me in a bear hug, and said, “I did it, Mom! I did it!” And I lost it. And it was only his second match ever.  

And meanwhile, Cem from Germany is more stoic, won his first football game, came home and said, I suppose I'll go back on fun day.  

George wanted to go out and hang out with his friends, and Cem’s perfectly content being at home and wanting to spend time with the family. Neither are wrong – they're just very different.  

CIEE: It’s the end of the school year. Could you talk about the emotional and logistical aspects of getting ready to prepare for their departure?  

Johnston: Logistically, there's never enough suitcases. Students accumulate a lot during their year in America. 

It's a lot of deciding what's going to go, what's going to stay, what they’ve bought for their mom and dad or siblings. And there’s the sentimental pieces – yearbooks, pictures, letterman jackets.  

The second piece of that is the emotional part – and that's the hard stuff.  

It's when they're pulling out of town and they're saying goodbye. Like George was in the backseat saying, “Bye Sonic, I'll miss your corn dogs!” You don't realize what an impact the small everyday things have on you.  

And it's the kids in town knowing that George went home and giving you a hug at a baseball game because they just know that you're missing your kid.  

Those are the hard, emotional parts.  

And this year's going to be just the same when Cem leaves.  

CIEE: This has changed your life in so many ways. You can tell that you're doing this out of pure love. What would you say to a family that's on the fence of hosting?  

Johnston: “What are you waiting for?” I think about those years in between – when we started the conversation and we actually started hosting – and I think about all the different opportunities we missed out on.  

It's just an extra plate for food – that's all you're on the hook for financially. Do you have an extra bed in your house? And do you have room in your heart?  

If you have room in your heart, the rest of it is figure-out-able. 

That's how I break it down to people when I'm hosting. 

And that's where I get to tell my story. I don't know how you hear my story and not want to host a million children. 

CIEE: How would you describe being a CIEE BridgeUSA host parent and welcoming a participant into your home?  

Johnston: As a CIEE BridgeUSA host parent, I would describe it as being life changing. My life will never be the same again.  

CIEE: Is there anything that you wanted to add? 

Johnston: You don't have to be perfect to be a host parent. You just have to be a parent.  

Just one exchange student could change your world. Learn how to become a host family – and start your own exchange student experience – with the CIEE BridgeUSA team.