Hill School Families

Host Family Program

Each year, we have a remarkable group of international students that enroll at The Hill School. The Host Family program gives local families the opportunity to welcome someone from another culture into their family, while helping our international students in many ways. It is unique in that it is not a homestay program. All of these students live in our dorms and are immersed fully in the residential program.

We have opened our home to international students from The Hill, because it opens cultural doors for our family and creates relationships with students and their families.Joyce DeVol P'17 '21

Host families provide a "home away from home" for our international students who who are unable to travel home or stay with relatives during long holiday weekends and breaks. These families welcome international students into their homes, making them feel a part of their own families.

In the past, there have been some host families who have taken their role one step further by doing all those things parents would do, were they close by. They have attended athletics events and musicals, remembered birthdays, delivered home-baked cookies, and they have, on occasion, taken the students off campus for ice cream or some other treat when visiting their own sons and daughters.

The Host Family Program has been a success because of the enthusiastic participation by our welcoming families. Each new year we greet several new international students to our community who need the same care and attention as our current students. Many Hill families that have participated in this program in the past have formed long term relationships with the students and their parents and we hope those relationships continue to grow.

Any parents who are interested in becoming a part of this program which helps students from a great distance feel more welcome at The Hill should contact Helen Qiu,  International Student and Family Support Manager, at 610-705-1279 or hqiu@thehill.org

The DeVol family and their Hill School host students during a holiday meal.