Superstar Guest Sandra Testo-Michaud, Regional Director of ISE, International Student Exchange
In this live interview, Adrienne Barker, MAS, talks with Sandra Testo‑Michaud, Regional Director of International Student Exchange (ISE), about the organization’s J‑1 high‑school exchange program and how families can become host families in Florida. Sandra explains that ISE, a nonprofit founded in the early 1980s and based in Long Island, places students from Europe, Asia and South America in U.S. homes for 5‑, 10‑, or 12‑month stays. The program is regulated by the U.S. Department of State and uses J‑1 visas for students aged 14‑18½. Families do not receive a stipend; instead they get a tax write‑off, and the students receive a minimum monthly allowance of $300 for personal expenses, plus full health insurance. Sandra outlines host‑family requirements: background checks for all adults (and any 17‑year‑old who will turn 18 during the stay), a bedroom (shared with a same‑sex teen of similar age, but not the same bed), three meals a day, and a local phone line. She discusses the “wish‑list” system that lets families request specific language or activity preferences (e.g., French‑speaking students, volleyball players) for upcoming August placements, and the process for applying online at www.iseusa.org. The conversation also covers demographic flexibility—empty‑nesters, single adults, gay couples, and families without teenagers can host—and common objections (husband concerns, perceived need for a teen in the home, fear of leaving the student alone). Sandra emphasizes the cultural exchange benefits for both host families and the broader school community, describing the “trickle‑effect” on local students. Finally, she shares promotional tips, such as posting unplaced student profiles on Facebook, and confirms that many students prefer Florida for its mild climate.
Chapters
I'm live.
We're live. You're not live. Hi everyone, I am live with Sandra Testo, and guess what? Sandra and I are going to be working together, and I'm very excited about this because this aligns with professional global etiquette and my being out there talking about cultural differences and the importance of protocol and etiquette. And so Sandra is the regional director of the International Student Exchange. Sandra, tell us about what it means to be a regional director and what ISE is about.
So ISE is a nonprofit organization. We've been around since the 19— early 1980s. We are located out of Long Island, New York, and we are one of the largest, if not the largest, agency in, in the US that looks for or places exchange students from all over the world. So our students come from Europe, Asia, and South America. So what Adrian will be doing is— I'm the regional director, so I run the I would say the Florida part of our region, which is called Seashell. And I have the whole entire Florida area. So what Adrian will be doing is she will be an area rep looking for wonderful host families who would like to host our students. And our students are between 5-month, 10-month, or 12-month stays. So you have the choice of whether you want to try it for 5 months, do it for 10 months, the academic year, or 12 months, which is January through December. And we're always looking for wonderful, loving host families to open up their hearts and their homes to host our wonderful students.
So they come on a J-1 visa.
Yes. So it's a J-1 visa. We are regulated by the Department of State. The Department of State does not regulate all of the exchange student programs. However, they're very strict with the J-1. So the J-1 is mostly high school students between the ages of 14 and 18 and a half, and they, they come here to live like an American, American student or American child in your home. They do chores, they become a part of your family member, and they, they just, they go to high school. So they would take the bus to and from. That's pretty much what J-1 is. Now, families do not get stipends for this. They, they do not get paid for doing this. They do get a tax write-off. So just in case, I know there's some families out there that want to rent out a room or, or do some, something in that aspect of taking in an exchange. And however, the J-1 program is not like that. It's more of taking in the student, the student becoming a part of your family and a part of your life for the rest of your lives to not just be a roommate. And you learn from them, they learn from you. Of the culture, you know, that sort of stuff. So that's what the J-1 is about.
And that's what I love about it, though, because with the global tension that we have right now going on in the world and everyone wants to understand everyone else's culture, their language, how we work, to have this relationship with the other countries and to have a student come here for like a high school, let's say, a high school has— myself, I have a child coming in from, from China. It's not just my getting the benefit or my family getting the benefit, it's the entire school, the community. That's the benefit of learning. It's really, it's really like a real true handshake between family and the country.
There's many students in our counties, let alone our little towns, that will never ever be able to leave sometimes their own counties, sometimes their own counties. So bringing the exchange students into your home does make a huge difference and impacts the other kids at the schools. It's amazing how it's like a trickle effect. I mean, I love this.
I'm not going to stop selling promotional products. So everyone understands this is not a 100% full-time job, but it just allows me having a high school teenager and understanding Volusia County schools and kind of being involved with the Volusia County Schools under my professional global etiquette umbrella where I teach teen etiquette, teen dining skills. It falls in so nicely because I want to be able to teach our Western etiquette and then learn from the other countries. So the students do bring a little bit of their own travel money. What does that look like?
Yes, so the students— the Department of State requires that all students do, their natural parents do give them up to 3, I'm sorry, starting at $300 a month. So the minimum that the students have to have is $300. Many bring more than $300 a month, but that's the minimal. And that is for them to pay for their toiletries, their clothes, their cell phone bill, which we require that they get a local phone number while they're here so you can contact them, their friends can contact them. So that's a $40 to $50 month-to-month cell phone bill, so they pay for that. Vacations that you go on, anything that you as a family do, the student pays for their way as far as that goes. The only thing that is required is that the family feeds them 3 meals a day. But most of the time the students do get their school lunches at school, so they pay for them for that. The hot meals at school. However, if they want to take a meal or two a week from their home, your home, that would be up to you to be able to supply that for them. But basically, yes, the natural parents, instead of a family getting a stipend, I kind of tell my families that the student's getting the money. So the student is able to manage the money. They pay for, like I said, the toiletries, everything. Another thing is they're fully insured. They have full insurance. So they are able to, if they're sick, go to the doctors. If there's an emergency, go to the emergency room. Everything, their insurance is probably better than ours. I mean, everything is picked up, taken care of. So really the only main thing that a family would have to do is pretty much keep after them, make sure that, you know, they're, they're not getting into trouble. Obviously, you as an area rep, Adrian, will be there liason where you're there for the family and for the student to be the liaison if there's any issues. So most of the times it's cultural issues. So what you would be there is to help them get through the first beginnings of the cultural, the shocks that come along with the students. Then, you know, once you get past that, if there's a little few things here and there, teenage stuff, then you as a liaison area rep will also help them get through that. A lot of support that comes along with our, our, our company for sure. I love that.
The other thing I just want to remind people, you don't have to have a student in a home. You can be living in a— as long as you're living in a place that allows you to have students, so it can't be 55 and older with no students. But if you don't have high school students, but you and your your significant other would like to do something like this. I feel like I would be that person that once my daughter is out of the house that I would like to continue to have a teenager to really enjoy that. They keep you young.
Yes, the empty nesters. Believe it or not, we do get a lot of empty nesters and families with young children. You know, and so we do get a diverse of all, but you'd be surprised how many single people with no children, never had children that want to do this. So everybody the age of 25 years old or older is, is able to host. And you're right, Adrian, a lot of people think that this is just for, for families, families with high school kids. I did an event a couple weeks ago. And while I was there, they had had 2 or 3 kids with them and they said, oh, this is a wonderful opportunity when my kids get older. And I tried to explain to them, that's not, you know, you don't need to wait until your kids are in high school. I've hosted 12 kids in the last 10 years. Amazing experience. Each and every one of my kids have been amazing experiences. So I started when my daughter was 12. She was in middle school, and now she's 22, and she is on her own. And in the summertime, she's taken off going somewhere in Europe to visit, you know, her sisters, she calls. I also adopted a young boy at 3, and he knows nothing except the fact that every year we get an exchange student. So he was adopted into our family, and that's all he knows. Is exchange students every year. So he can, he can write his name in Korean. He could write his name in Chinese, Mandarin, and other languages, Spanish. He can sing songs in Spanish. Yes, I mean, he does take Spanish in school, but having these kids around him and teaching him also, so he's learned a lot of cultural stuff.
Okay, so then that is the next question would be, my daughter's taking French, I want her to really get embraced French, am I able to ask for a French student?
Yes, so for next August, we are placing for January and August. Um, you know, if, if the public schools are not accepting the students right now for January, um, then we are asking charter schools in the area, and most charter schools are allowing them to come for January. We do have a handful of them left. However, so if you, you can't ask for one for January that speaks French because it's so, you know, around the corner. However, for August, it's so early right now that we, I tell all my families that we have a wish list. So if you tell me now what you would like for August, we put it on the wish list and my manager, my higher-up manager, will check that wish list every day. When a French girl gets on the— comes in through as an applicant, he gives that French girl to me because I have a wish list. So that's how it works when it's early on like this.
Love it. Okay, so we have— so my daughter— so can the, uh, can a student— and I know the answer, just to let you know, I know, but let's tell everyone else— can a student, um, share a bedroom? With a family member?
So yes, they can share a bedroom, but they cannot share a bed. So we can get a family approved now for next August. They can fill out an application that's all done online. They don't have to leave or mail anything in. So everything's done online. It's free, of course. And if you have a bedroom that the student is sharing with that student. However, they have to be within 4 to 5 years apart and the same sex. So if you have a teenage daughter or a daughter who's like 10, 11, yes, they can share as long as that student's 14, 15-ish. I wouldn't do any older than that. And of course, it would have to be a girl, the same sex. But to get them approved, we can approve them on the basis that they will have bunk bed or another twin bed in the home by August. So right now we can get an application in, no problems, just take a picture of the bedroom and then submit it and let our compliance department know that by August before the student arrives, there will be another bed in there.
I love that. OK, so now family members, you are going to have everyone in the family is going to be spoken to around the table and the background check is 18 and over in the family?
Yes, or if they have a 17-year-old that's turning 18 while the student is in the home. So yes, we do get some students that— I'm sorry, some families that if they have a 17-year-old and within that year, or even let's say next year, if you have a 16-year-old or 17-year-old that's turning 18 next year or 2022 or 2023, during that application period they would have to be background checked.
Okay, beautiful. I mean, this is amazing. So we're gonna— I'm gonna focus a couple questions on Volusia County right now because that's where I'm at. So Volusia County Schools will have already been working with ISC to say, yes, we have space, and they have their own rules and regulations that they have to go by, but they will say that they have the space, and then It's up to really everyone out there to really open up your heart, open up your home, and have that conversation with your student to see if they would like that. Because it really is, you're in essence creating an opportunity for lifelong friendship for your child and for your own personal family. I don't know. So tell me why people say no. Why do people say no?
Well, I get a lot of nos most of the times believe it or not, it's the husbands. Interesting. It is. A lot of the husbands are afraid to take on another child in the home, the responsibility of that child. A lot of the moms are excited to bring them on board. And then a lot of times busy families. Believe it or not, these students love to be with busy families. They love to tag along with them. That is the American way. So I tried to explain to families, if you're a busy family, don't worry about it. That's what they love. Some families think that they can't leave the student alone, like if they were at work or if they went and had to take their son or daughter to soccer practice or whatever. So I always tell them, yes, they could be left alone. They just can't be left alone overnight. So, you know, even if you're a busy family, yes, it's not a problem. I do get some families that, you know, again, they think because they don't have a teenager in the home, that's a lot of no's. So it's always nice for anyone that's thinking about this to come to you with the questions because you'd be surprised. Even gay families, they think that they can't host, believe it or not, and they're afraid to come forward and ask.
Yes.
Yes, imagine that. That's not a problem that, you know, without children, you know, 2 guys, 2 women, whatever, they don't have to be married. So there's so many things that people are afraid to come forward and ask, but they would be approved for.
And I just want to take a minute to think about the students that are— as a student in China who we know, because I had an opportunity— my son lives in Shanghai for the last 10 years. And I got a chance to not only visit them once, but to actually live there for over a month. And the reality is they're in school all day long, then they're learning more. They're highly educated and they dream about coming here and they will add so much. They're so responsible. So, like, I just think about all the students that in their dream in another country is to come to America and to take, to go to high school. And it's up to us if you have it. Not everyone has it in their, in their heart and in their head to say, I really want to do this. But I really believe that it is so important to take on this role and to be a family. Again, talk to your family about it, the whole entire family, to say, what does everyone think? It'll make every holiday so much better.
There are—
so tell me about the website that people can go on.
Yes. Www.iseusa.org. And just a quick thing I'd like to let people know as well. Right now, because it's so early, we could even find that student that loves volleyball because your daughter plays volleyball or loves soccer because your son or daughter plays soccer. So we can get you on that wish list and find a good student student, or I don't want to say perfect because they're not going to be perfect, but the student that will fit in your home. And that's what's important. So just so you know that you're able to pick out your students. Some families don't know that either. They think they just get assigned a student. So, but yes, www.iseusa.org.
So the only thing is you're not going to get is a photo of the student until after everything's approved. And then everything, any of the questions, please ask me and I'll ask Sandra. I love this. I did this in Tucson, Arizona. So I understand, you know, I did get— I did pass the test, right? For the J-1. Yes. You know, I passed my own background check because they have to trust me that I'm going to be, in essence, mentoring the student, helping the student to get acclimated, helping the family to get acclimated, which is really what I love. So I'm excited to be part of your team, Sandra. We're excited to have you on board. Thank you so much. And everyone out there, you're going to start seeing me promote a little bit more. Do you also let people know, um, about students so that besides the wish list they could read about a, a potential student?
We do have about 6 or 7 now that are unplaced that you can, um, put up on Facebook without their pictures.
And I can show you how to do that.
And you can just post and let them know that these are ones that are available.
And of course, here in Florida, that, you know, we're in a perfect area. They do get a little bit of the cold, but not the snow. So they don't have to, you know, they may not have to buy— it helps with the traveling purposes. You know, we're lucky here. They don't have to bring all their winter clothes.
No, they all want to be in Florida.
Everyone wants to be in Florida. So help me help the students, help Sandra help the students. Thank you, Sandra. So nice. I look forward— I forgot, where are you located again?
In Tampa Bay.
Okay, you're in Tampa Bay, so we're going to meet soon, right?
Yeah.
Okay, beautiful, beautiful. So everyone, I'm announcing this, that I am like, my part-time is going to be doing what I love, placing, placing international students into host families, your family. So let me know. Thank you, Sandra, for your time today. I really appreciate it.
You're welcome, Adrienne. Talk to you soon. Bye, everybody.
Have a great rest of the day.
Thank you. That was perfect, perfect.
