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Lori Best has hosted students in her home for more than a decade. She has been a home-stay coordinator for over 4 years. Lori also organizes the Adventure Club, where students go on monthly outings like Ziplining, Skiing, and Whale watching. Lori refers to herself as the 'fun one'! Lori is well traveled, speaks French and a little Spanish and Portuguese, and loves to learn more about the world and other cultures from her many students. She cannot really to meet you!
Cathy and her husband Kirt have been hosting international students for 10 years now, but this is her second year as a coordinator. Her family has had an awesome experience hosting and coordinating students from Brazil, Italy, Spain, Germany, Mexico and Netherlands! In the past, Cathy worked in Home Care, but now focuses on being a stay at home mom for the homestay students and a homestay coordinator for NIS! Cathy and Kirt have maintained lifelong friendships with the students they have hosted. She loves when they form a family bond with the students. She says it’s a special feeling! Cathy and Kirt try to give students the best experience and create lifetime memories on the West Coast of Newfoundland!
Karen is the lead Homestay Coordinator for the Western Region of Newfoundland. She has been a Homestay Coordinator for 15 years and a Homestay Mom for 25 years! She believes that every student is unique in their own way and loves listening to their stories and their languages! She especially loves to watch their reaction to new experiences in Newfoundland!
Sherry has been working as a coordinator with NIS since 2017. During this time, she has hosted a total of 9 students from Spain and Brazil. Besides being a coordinator and host family, Sherry and her husband are both in the teaching profession and love to share their knowledge with the students they welcome into their home. Sherry is based in the Central/Eastern region of Newfoundland and loves sharing her part of the island with students through activities such as skidooing, on quad and kayaking. She always looks forward to travelling throughout the province, while hosting, in order to give her student the best possible experience while staying in our beautiful province.
Karen loves the culture and history of our beautiful province! She speaks English fluently and knows some basic phrases of other languages and loves to learn about foods from around the world! In addition to being a coordinator, Karen’s family has hosted 17 students from countries around the globe from countries such as; Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Japan! Karen loves caring for others. In addition to being a coordinator and a host parent she loves to volunteer in her community and she has worked as a respite care worker, a carer for seniors and as a student assistant within our school system. As one of the NIS Homestay Coordinators representing the West Coast of Newfoundland, she enjoys the opportunity of working with a great team and meeting new students and providing excellent quality services to them.
Barb has been a host parent for 10 years and a coordinator for 2! She feels absolutely blessed to have had the opportunity to host students from Brazil, Germany, Spain, Mexico and China. She has maintained lifelong friendships with these students. Barb feels as though NIS has given her an opportunity to explore the world through the lives of students and she is excited to continue to meet and experience culture from around the world through our incoming students!
In addition to being a coordinator, Margaret has been part of a supportive and welcoming host family since 2015! Margaret really enjoys her home in Newfoundland and Labrador and one of her biggest joys is having the opportunity to share her love of Newfoundland’s beauty, history and culture with NIS students! She wants to do her part to make Newfoundland a wonderful and inviting place for NIS students!
In addition to being a coordinator, Patrick and his wife are a host family and love to welcome NIS students into their home! Patrick is also employed with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs as a Municipal Finance Officer. Before his career at NIS and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Patrick spent years as a member of the Canadian Military, within the Royal Canadian Regiment, Royal Newfoundland Regiment, and the Canadian Rangers. Patrick is a lifelong learner and took advantage of further learning upon his honourable release from the Canadian Military. Patrick returned to school and studied Business with a focus in accounting and human resources.
Heather has been working with Newfoundland’s international students for quite some time! She has been a host parent for approximately 20 years and a coordinator with NIS for over 10! Her family has hosted over 15 students and has made so many close connections with some of the students from all over the world. In Heather’s opinion, there is no better feeling when a student says they've had the best experience and made life-long friends and memories! Heather loves to keep busy! She retired from her work in the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, but recently returned to work. When she is not working, Heather loves spending time with family and friends and as you can see in her picture, she loves to ride her motorcycle! She’s in a motorcycle riding group that helps support Veterans in need or Veteran organizations.
Meg has been working with international students for more than 10 years! She found a love for international education when she herself was an international student in Ireland and England. Upon returning, she dedicated her career to international students! Meg loves to travel. She has visited more than 45 countries around the globe and loves experiencing culture, language, food, history and weather from all over the world! She has worked in K-12 schools and universities all across Canada and recently joined the NIS team to focus on partnerships. Having worked across the country and studied in multiple countries, she is eager to welcome students to Newfoundland as she knows what a special place it is for students.
I have been involved with NIS for the past 18 years. One of my favorite things about the program is listening to the students when they talk about the great experience they are having with their host family and how much they feel a part of the family. This speaks to the commitment of our awesome host families.
