CHEN HAOYU, also known as Novak, is shown as the fourth student from right in this photo taken during an outing at Crystal Spring Farms. The Brunswick School Department is looking for a local family who can host the exchange student.
Bob Goddard, a teacher and foreign exchange coordinator at Brunswick High School, said he is on a mission to find a home away from home in Brunswick for a student from Jinhua, China.
Chen Haoyu — who goes by the name Novak, as in the tennis player — is a 16-yearold male whose interests include tennis, swimming, travel and playing piano.
According to a news release from Goddard, Novak’s major desire is to come to the United States and learn more English. He also wishes to experience the American culture with the hope of attending an American college or university.
Novak participated in the Brunswick Summer China Program last year.
He wishes to be in a small school environment, unlike his 5,000-student high school. In this way, he will be able to make closer friends and really get to know the community more, according to Goddard.
Goddard traveled to China last spring and stayed with Novak and his family. Novak’s mother is a professor at the local college and his father is a mid-level executive at China Telecom.
Novak lives in a city of 6 million, small by Chinese standards, according to Goddard. They live in a condominium complex with many units of similar size and architecture. Goddard said Novak was fascinated by the many different styles of homes in the Brunswick area, as well as the open spaces around the homes.
Goddard is also involved with a program run by the Brunswick School Department in which Chinese students pay Brunswick a tuition fee to come to Brunswick High School. As part of this tuition arrangement, Brunswick School Department agrees to find host families for these students and also agrees to pay the host families $500 per month covering the period August 2105 until the end of school in June.
Goddard said this is an opportunity to form a lifetime relationship.
Those interested in hosting Novak should contact Goddard at rgoddard@ brunswick.k12.me.us, or call Brunswick High School at (207) 319-1910 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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