In the hearts of dozens of international students, Plant City is the best place in the country to visit.
Exchange students with Educational First, a non-profit homestay program that has arranged group travel for
more than 140,000 international students since 1979, voted Plant City as the number one destination for EF tours in the entire United States in 2018.
Program Leader Sharon Ours has been working with the Lakeland branch of the program for years. Last year, she asked EF if she could break off and create a Plant City branch to allow students to fully experience her home-town, which she feels is one of the greatest cities in the world.
“Plant City is such a unique town like I said (at the city commission meeting), I was born and raised here, for me there is no other place like Plant City,” Ours said.
For 17 days, more than 30 students bonded with their host families and then went on educational adventures around town. During the day the students studied under two teachers from Cork Elementary at Independence Academy and then were whisked away to a field trip with Ours.
Community members like Sue Harrell offered presentations on Plant City’s culture. Harrell discussed the Florida Strawberry Grower’s Association and the strawberry industry, Stephanie Conrad gave a presentation on the local beef industry and the students headed to the 1914 High School Community Center where they learned about local history and then participated in a rock hunt.
When the children arrive they are given a five-day feedback survey where they are asked about how they felt about their reception to town, their teachers, program leader and host family. Then they are given another survey when they leave on similar topics. Those are combined with their test scores, which shows their educational improvement on the provided lessons over the course of the 17 days, to create an overall score.
The city with the highest score is awarded destination of the year. Ours said when they were at the national conference in November she was utterly stunned when Plant City’s name was called as the recipient. Having just branched out from the Lakeland group she wasn’t expecting to have made such an impact on the first go-around.
She joked that California was a “tough one to compete against,” but the unique hospitality found only in Plant City she believes really set them apart. She said it all comes down to people and the unconditional love the children were met with at every turn let them know that Plant City genuinely cares.
“I’m very passionate about this because I think we can make such an impact,” Ours said. “These kids are age 9 to 13. You know a lot of times people have their own set impression of what a particular country is and what they’re all about and you get a different impression when you open up your mind and you interact with someone from a different country. It’s an amazing opportunity. I’ve learned Chinese words, I’ve learned about their culture… you learn a lot about people and they learn a lot about us.”
Ours is searching for a handful of host families to round out the upcoming group. She is also hoping local businesses will be interested in partnering with EF and helping out local families. Last year Fred’s gave a meal ticket to all of the participating families and she said it was amazing to watch the students try out southern cooking for the very first time. Needless to say, fried chicken was a big hit with the group.
Anyone interested in learning more can contact Ours at 813-763-0856. The next group of students will be in town from July 11 to July 28, 2019.