By Jeff Mullin Senior Writer
It's a long way from places like Milan, Italy, and Kano, Nigeria, to Enid, and not only in terms of miles.
In order to help international pilot training students at Vance Air Force Base adjust to life in their temporary new home, Vance International Military Student Flight and a group of local volunteers have formed a sponsorship program.
Under the International Student Sponsor Program, volunteer families sponsor one or more international students during the 13 months they will train at Vance.
The goals of the program are to make the international students feel welcome, to acquaint them with the American way of life and to cultivate goodwill between the United States and the students' home nations.
Student pilots have little free time, which makes it difficult for Vance officials to show them what life in Enid is like, said Capt. Jon King, International Military Student Flight commander.
"It's hard for us to find time to do anything with them," said King, " so we started this sponsor program. Sponsors can have them over for dinner, take them out to sporting events, pretty much anything they want to do, to try to bring them out into the community a little bit more so they learn more about the United States than just Vance Air Force Base."
Vance once had a similar program, but it has not been in effect for several years. King has revived it with the help of volunteer Mary Feightner, who is in charge of matching students with sponsors.
"We've just gotten the sponsors all signed up and linked up with the students in the past couple of months," said King.
The program is so new many of the sponsors have yet to have contact with their adopted students.
Feightner said she has had no trouble matching all 12 international students currently studying at Vance with local sponsors.
"We wanted a family to adopt them to kind of show them the community and our way of life here in Enid and help them to get acquainted with the American culture," she said.
John and Traci Anderson, both of whom were once Air Force officers, are sponsors for the two Portuguese students at Vance. They were scheduled to have one of the students over for dinner Friday, while the other was out of town. They were involved with the international student program while serving at Vance.
"We really enjoy getting to know people and learning about their culture," said John Anderson, who owns Golf USA.
Tom Andrew, of Andrew Real Estate, is sponsoring one of the Italian students at Vance.
"When I show people around Enid I enjoy giving a tour and talking about the history," he said.
Jim Harris and wife Peggy have been involved with hosting visiting physicians through the Rural Health Program, so the Vance international student sponsor program seemed a natural fit for them.
"It will be enjoyable to get to know people from different countries," said Jim Harris, with Baker-Harris Insurance. "The older you get, the more you realize you don't know what you need to know about these other countries."
Mike Riddle of Bank of Kremlin is sponsoring a student from Kuwait.
"That will be fascinating. It's an area of the world that is in the news," he said. "I think it will be good to give them an opportunity to see America through our eyes."
The program still needs volunteers. Anyone interested in sponsoring an international student pilot from Vance should call Feightner at 233-4913.
