Every once in a while, an opportunity comes along not only to travel—but to invite the world into your home. Our youth ambassador exchange program offers exactly that: the chance for families in Bryan-College Station to become host families for high school students from abroad, and to send local students abroad in turn.

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What It Means to Be Part of the Program

The Youth Ambassador Exchange is for both students and host families who join BCS Sister Cities International and become members. Membership is yearly and fee based; the student exchange itself is a week to 2 weeks commitment although it consists of a 6 months planning period. Students are selected in the fall (deadline December 15, 2025) from grades 9 to 12 in the Bryan-College Station area high schools to host students from one of our partner cities — currently Toruń, Poland — to come stay in Bryan-College Station for 10-14 days. The Americans who hosted the Polish students then travel to Poland right after school finishes (May 2026) and are hosted by the student who lived with them. Participants of previous youth exchanges have testified to their life changing and memorable experiences. 

When international students visit Bryan-College Station, host families open their homes and hearts for a short period of time, providing lodging, meals, and daily life — opportunities to participate in family routines, culture, and community.

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Why Host a Student?

Becoming a host family is much more than giving someone a room. It’s an enriching, mutual experience that often changes lives — for the visitor and for the host.

• Cultural exchange: Hosts learn about another way of life, another language, different customs. It’s not just a visit, it’s immersion.
• Growing perspective: Family members — especially younger ones — get to see the world through new eyes. Empathy, global awareness, and curiosity tend to blossom.
• Lifelong connections: Many families and visiting students develop strong bonds that endure long past the program — visits, correspondence, even career or educational paths that reflect those connections.
• Personal development: For both hosts and students, there’s growth in flexibility, communication skills, patience, openness to difference. Challenges like culture shock or language gaps often bring rewarding breakthroughs.

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Expectations & Responsibilities

Hosting is a responsibility — not a passive role. There are a few key things a host family should be ready for:

• Providing a safe, welcoming home: A private or shared room, meals, time together, inclusion in daily routines.
• Emotional support: The student is in a new country; culture, language, and homesickness may be real. Being patient, listening, and helping them adjust is invaluable.
• Time and attention: The stay involves activities, community events, possibly school or organized functions in B-CS. It helps when hosts are ready to engage and share.
• Commitment: As noted, the program involves travel, hosting, and sometimes fundraising for participants. Families should be aware of the schedule, expectations, and the give and take involved.

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How to Get Started

If hosting sounds like something you’d love to do, here’s how to begin:

1. Visit our website and look into the Youth Ambassador Exchange program.
2. Fill out any required applications — often for both the student and the host family.
3. Participate in any orientation or interviews the organization requires.
4. Prepare your home and family for the visiting student — think about space, meals, daily schedule, what cultural sharing looks like in your household.

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Final Reflections

Opening your home to a student from another country is also opening your heart to new stories, traditions, and relationships. It’s an act of hospitality that ripples outward — not only changing one student’s life, but teaching your family and community about the world, one home at a time.

If you feel called to bring someone new into your everyday, consider becoming a host family with B-CS Sister Cities. You might just change lives — starting with your own.

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About Bryan–College Station Sister Cities

Bryan–College Station Sister Cities Association serves as a bridge between our community in the heart of the Brazos Valley (Bryan–College Station, Texas) and cities around the world. Founded in 1989, our mission is to foster mutual cultural understanding, educational growth, and economic development through citizen diplomacy.

We are proud to partner with Bastogne, Belgium; Greifswald, Germany; Salamanca, Mexico; and Toruń, Poland—each conversation and exchange solidifying global bonds and building trust across different cultures. 

Through programs like the Youth Ambassador Exchange, local students and adults travel abroad and host visitors here in the Brazos Valley—experiencing immersive cultural, civic, and educational exchanges that benefit both communities. 

Anchored by the values promoted by our national organization, Sister Cities International—“to promote peace one person, one community at a time”—our local chapter reflects those ideals by engaging residents of Bryan and College Station in meaningful international collaboration.