Tom and Lea Walls have welcomed foreign exchange students into their family home since 1991. Students from 13 countries — Germany, Norway, France, Argentina, Sweden, Russia, Belgium, Venezuela, South Korea, Slovenia, Ukraine, Turkey and Italy — have literally left their mark at the modest brick home in South Union Township.

“Every kid who lived here did a hand- or footprint on a corner of the kitchen wall,” Lea Walls said. “One even did a nose print.”

The couple works through Nacel Open Door, a St. Paul, Minn., nonprofit that specializes in placing students age 18 or younger from all parts of the world in American homes. Students may choose to immerse themselves in the English language and American culture for a period as brief as two weeks or for a number of years depending on their needs and interests.

Currently the Walls are hosting a 17-year-old student from Daejeon, South Korea, Jiynu Park, who has adopted the name Helen. Park is beginning her second year of study in the United States at Geibel Catholic High. She is interested in working with animals in a yet to be determined career role and finds the American educational system more conducive to self-discovery than that of her native land.

“When I was in Korea, I wanted to study animals,” she said. “But the Korean system is (so rigorous) we worked from morning until late at night with tutors. There is a lot of competition for the best grades that will lead to the best jobs. Suicides (among students) are common. A boy in my class disappeared from school. I found out from friends that he just couldn't take the pressure.”

The Walls' involvement in hosting foreign students came from a tragic event.

“I lost a full-term son in 1990,” Lea Walls said. “We had made a room upstairs into a nursery and it was empty. I had been a Girl Scout leader with my friend Christine Buckelew. She and her husband, Tom, also hosted exchange students and asked me to take in a German girl, Nina, from Wiesbaden. After all, we had that empty room. Nina is now 41 and recently sent me a photograph of her 4-year-old son.”

Much as the handprints and footprints (and one nose print) on the kitchen nook attest to the 28 student visitors to the home, occasionally some return.

“They are coming back to visit us now. Last year our Swedish boy, Markus, came back. He is an anesthesiologist with a wife and two children. Neither of the children spoke any English,” said Walls, shaking her head and smiling. “And they stayed with us for two weeks — if you can imagine that.”

One student's visit was cause for concern. Just two weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a Turkish Muslim girl from Germany, Oslam, began her stay.

“We feared repercussions against her,” Tom Walls said. “At first we told her to tell everyone she was Italian. Eventually, she told everyone her true story. But no one in this community ever did or said anything bad toward her. She since became a professor of international studies and taught for two years at the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University.”

Lea Walls, who is clinical director of the Family Beginnings Birthing Center at Uniontown Hospital, admits that things don't always go well with student visits, but there are remedies.

“It's not typical, but you do get kids who are spoiled and act out,” she said. “We sit them down and work out a course of discipline. The organization (Nacel) has professional counselors. But most of them (the students) are so grateful. They think that people here are kind and giving. They also think this area is so beautiful.”

Anyone interested in the foreign exchange student program may contact the Walls at nacelopendoorwalls@yahoo.com.

Franklin LaCava is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.

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