Contact: Jenni Brockman
Telephone: 804-443-3357
Fax: 804-443-6781

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SMS Seeks "Friendship Families" for International Students

Tappahannock, VA (August 27, 2001) - Local families who would like to experience another culture are invited to learn more about the St. Margaret's School "Friendship Families" program at a brief informational meeting on Wednesday, September 5.

Photo left: St. Margaret's "Friendship Families" program gives local residents the opportunity to learn about other cultures without ever leaving home. Shu Jin of China and Yee Yan Lai of Hong Kong, two of the school's international students, also shared their culture with attendees at the school's annual international festival last spring.

"Friendship families provide the additional support of caring adults for girls whose homes and parents are thousands of miles away," said SMS International Program Director Leslie Bohon. "It's easy to participate. What the girls want most is to be included in your family's typical activities."

Last year, 13 families in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula opened their hearts and homes to St. Margaret's international students. They provided hospitality that ranged from inviting girls to Thanksgiving dinner and showing them around the area to offering a pleasant place for them to spend an occasional weekend away from campus.

International students at SMS this year represent nine countries, including China, French West Indies, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, Taiwan and Thailand. Their families chose St. Margaret's because of its safe, pleasant location, small class size and well-established international program.

The meeting will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the Woolfolk Center (Library) Reading Room, and light refreshments will be provided. Families accepted into the program will meet their students at a dinner in late September. For more information, contact Bohon at (804) 445-3357 or lbohon@sms.org

---