Exchange students arrive in N.B. from Colombia

SAINT JOHN, N.B. – A record number of exchange students will be attending schools throughout New Brunswick this year.

The Atlantic Education International exchange program initiated by the N.B. Department of Education will host more than 300 students from around the world.

“There are some benefits because tuition is paid to each of the schools and the school boards in the communities,” said program manager, Bruce MacDonald.

MacDonald says it’s the host families, who open up their homes to the newcomers, that make it all possible.

The MacKay family of Quispamsis is hosting one of New Brunswick’s youngest exchange students. From Bogota, Colombia, Mariana Traveras Calleja is only 11 years old.

She and 14 other students from Colombia arrived in Moncton Monday. As part of the exchange program, they will attend schools across the province for the next eight weeks.

“In Colombia it’s dangerous so you have to be always in your house or in the school,” said Calleja.

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“That’s why I feel the responsibility to make this as loving and as caring of an environment as we can make it,” said her host mother Becky MacKay.

Her host father, Greg MacKay says they will do their best to make Calleja feel safe and at home in New Brunswick.

“We thought it was important for our kids to see how kids their own age live in another country and sort of widen their exposure to the world and help them realize it’s a big place,” MacKay said.

MacDonald says strong bonds are made between the host families and the exchange students.

“Many times there is a lifelong connection with the family here and the family in Bogota and we have had many instances here where families have gone to visit their students in Colombia,” he said.