Host Families
Our host family program provides a significant link to the Madison community for the Scholar. Each new Scholar is thoughtfully paired up with a Madison family who has volunteered to welcome a Scholar into their home one weekend a month. We try to match up Scholars with a family that has a student in the same grade. This will be another familiar face in school, especially during the initial transition to DHHS. We take into account interests and personality. The families are committed to providing another level of support for the Scholar, encouraging them every step of the way!
Host families provide a “home away from home” and allow the Scholar to experience the community by participating in activities with their family. For the most part, the family follows their “normal” routine and incorporates the Scholar into the daily family activities. For example, there could be chores, errands, sporting events, movies, and/or family dinners. However, it is also a time to regroup, relax, and get some much needed downtime away from Roby House.
Over the last 50 years, nearly 70 families in Madison have shared the unique, life-changing experience of hosting an ABC Scholar. The relationship between host families and Scholars is significant and can last well beyond the four years they spend together. Many host families echo this sentiment, saying that their host sons remain part of the family even after many years. They attend each other’s weddings, get to know each other’s kids and grandkids, and stay in touch whenever there is something important going on in the family.
If you are interested in learning more about Madison ABC and possibly being a host family in the future, please contact us.
Host Family Stories
The Paduda family thought so much of their experience with their first host son that they hosted another. Deb Paduda says that it was exciting and amusing to get to know the students, from those awkward first hot-family weekends to the comfortable shared experience of family life.
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C.J. Gladstone, ABC Board member and current Student Affairs Chair, and her husband Bill were host parents for Shaquan Huntt who graduated in 2009. C.J. reminisces fondly on how Shaquan strengthened the bond to their family during his freshman year when during a ski weekend they laughed together at his surprise encounter with his first big mogul field.
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Melissa Blundon, who was a host sister and later a host mom, said that "going into the experience, you don't know quite what to expect," but that over the course of a year "you learn to trust each other and feel confident". Her host son, Marvin Walker ('05), is now an integral part of the family. He became like a brother to her daughters and still visits a few times a year even though he's out of college and working.