Regent Square Woman Connects International Students With Families

Peg Schmidt works each year to broaden the perspectives of students from around the world along with the host families who give each of them a temporary place to call home.

“When I was a kid, my next-door neighbors had an exchange student from Iran and I was fascinated by that,” Schmidt said. “My parents are immigrants, so I have always been surrounded by other cultures and languages.”

A local coordinator and team leader with the Council on International Educational Exchange, Schmidt of Regent Square is heading into her fifth year in connecting high school students from other countries to the United States.

“CIEE is the agency that is approved by the state department to bring high school students to the United States,” she said. “My job is that I am the local presence for them and find families interested in hosting a student and then I also work with the high schools, because they have to approve their enrollment before they can even leave their home country.”

Students attend the public high school in the jurisdiction of their host families. Schmidt’s territory can reach out as far as 110 miles from Pittsburgh.

She finds families by talking to everyone she knows, speaking at local festivals and meetings and making phone calls to neighbors.

“You reach out to other parents who know families, like the band parents, PTA and Girl Scouts,” Schmidt said. “You just try to focus on places where people know people.”

Schmidt lends support to the students and also writes monthly reports regarding their stay in Pittsburgh.

“It can be stressful especially if there are problems with kids and there are because they are teenagers,” she said. “There’s no way everything can be wonderful all the time.”

Right now, there are 28 students in Pittsburgh from Spain, Thailand, Germany, Mexico and the Czech Republic through the CIEE program, she said. Schmidt works with other local coordinators on the team to focus on what each student needs.

The students who come to the U.S. through the program are encouraged to use the experience as a cultural exchange and language opportunity.

“They are required to take English and American history and other than that, they take two other academic courses or as many as they want,” Schmidt said.

Moritz Jahr is a junior at Woodland Hills High School who is in the country from Germany through the CIEE program. He arrived to Pittsburgh in August and is staying with a host family in Regent Square.

“I really like it and I like being in another country,” Jahr said. “It’s hard being separated from parents and friends but it’s fun and it works.”

He also said he enjoys being able to rely on Schmidt throughout the experience.

“She really cares and was at the airport when I arrived,” he said. “She is down the street from me so anytime I need anything I can just go there.”

Schmidt said two years ago, a local family that has two adopted Chinese daughters hosted a Chinese girl.

“They did that intentionally because they wanted their daughters to have that experience and that girl ended up coming back to the U.S. for college,” she said. “She is now here at Pitt and back in touch with the family and this is an ongoing relationship for them.”

Schmidt said those examples are the ultimate reward for both students and families.

“I’ve had many students come back to visit their old families and they become Pittsburghers,” she said.

For more information on CIEE and how to become a host family, e-mail pghpeg@gmail.com.