Home Plate

Andrea Royce, one of our Home Plate hosts sent this photo and note: "One of our students, Xinyue Zhang, decided to finish her program online back in her hometown in China. Before she left, she stopped by to say goodbye and gave us the most beautiful fan. The red sandal and myanmar wood fan was made in her hometown and is a specialty of the area. Such a thoughtful gift and will always remind us of her. Thank you for all of the connections you are making through this program"

Proud to be one of the sewers

"I wanted to share this picture with you from last Sunday dinner. Our Homeplate student from like 10 years ago still comes over and we all love her. She a resident at Barnes. The other three are also Wash U alums and one student. Shoko on the left is the student who is truly like a daughter. Her daughter is Risa. She is a lawyer at Thompson Coburn and lived with us for years. Again, thanks Wash U for enriching our lives." Ted and Jenny Fanson

Paul and Amy Davis sent in this charming photo along with this note: "Last night Paul and I took our girls to Corner 17 to celebrate the New Year with them, catching up with each what they did over the Winter Break. My youngest son and granddaughter, who is 5, were in town and joined us. Scarlett, my granddaughter, loved being with the girls, they were so sweet and kind to her. It was a lovely evening. I am so very fond of each of these amazing young women.

Received this wonderful note from the Royce family: "By the way, we had our group over on Sunday night to make pizzas and s’mores...Such a nice group of young men and women. We’ll be sure to send you a pic after our next gathering."

Received this wonderful note from Ben and Susan Uchitelle about their new group of Home Plate students! "Just a note to say we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family and the 4 new Chinese students who joined us for dinner. Thanks goes to you for making the basic arrangements. The students, Yongting Cheng, Yaming Gao, Gege Xiong and Zoe Wang were all bright and interesting. We talked over a wide range of subjects as we went through our Thanksgiving dinner. Just a great evening and new friends. We plan to ask them to join us again in the new year."

Received these charming photos and note from the Rooney's, a new Home Plate family! "I wanted to thank you for giving us the opportunity to meet such a wonderful group of international students from WashU. We met Margaret, Xingyu (Kate), and Fang for Thanksgiving and had a great time.. We are making plans to get together again as everybody gets back from vacations and travels. Such a wonderful opportunity. So much to do in St. Louis, I can't wait to explore with them."

The Glass family sent in this wonderful note and photo: "We hosted Lu, Martin and Roberta on November 10. It was a lot of fun for our family, and our kids loved having these big kids in our home. I think the students enjoyed it just as much. They were super kind and appreciative, and it is worth noting that none of them even looked at their cell phone the whole night. They were a fun and impressive bunch!"

Heard from Kristin Springer who kindly wrote: "We were finally able to have our students over and we had the best time! They were just wonderful. Thank you for organizing this program!"

Received this wonderful note and photo from the Cannarozzi's: "Thank you for organizing this wonderful program. We had a wonderful time with our 3 students (Sim, David and Chuzhen). After dinner the students indulged our children (4 and 5.5) by playing games and puzzles to cap off a fun evening. Here's a picture of the kid with the students showing off their Marble Run game."

Received this heartwarming message from the Rooney's: ",,,Thank YOU so much for giving us the opportunity to host the students. What a treasure! We have six WashU students celebrating Thanksgiving with us on Thursday. I am thrilled and ready to cook. This is going to be an amazing opportunity for the students. I hope the weather cooperates."

Received this lovely note from Chris and Ella Renteria: "The students were wonderful guests, it was a true pleasure. We are looking forward to many more opportunities hosting our group of students this coming year. Thank you again for organizing this!" Thank YOU for hosting!

Sweet Note from the Melander's: "We just had our students over last night and it was so lovely! We so enjoyed Oliver, Vincent and Xiaolin."

The Abeles family enjoyed their Home Plate dinner and sent in this sweet note and photo: "I just wanted to email and tell you how much we enjoyed having Shelby, Lauren, Sofie and Oliver over tonight. They are such sweet, smart and outgoing kids, my husband, kids and I had a blast with them."