Skilton reunion

	Joan and Harry Skilton (back row, fourth and sixth from left) with some of the Skilton reunion participants, including Toshiyuki Suzuki (front row, right), the first student they hosted in 1988.

She thought it was just a polite gesture, but when Alvaro Coelho kept insisting, "When are you coming to visit?" Joan Skilton, "host Mom" to many ELI students, realized the Brazilian student meant it. Skilton was ELI's host family coordinator from 1990 to 1996, and she and her husband Harry continue to host several international students each session.

"There are many rewards," Skilton said. "It makes us much more knowledgeable of the world, and it keeps us young."The Skiltons traveled to Brazil in 1990 to visit Coelho. Since then, they have traveled to Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Belgium--each time at the invitation of one of the close to 500 students they have hosted since 1988.

So when the first student they had ever hosted, Toshiyuki Suzuki (Japan '88), suggested a reunion of all their hostees in the year 2000, the Skiltons took him seriously too, especially when--way back in 1988--he had T-shirts printed with the slogan "Acapulco 2000" and when he, and the other students the Skiltons hosted that year, wore them.

For logistical reasons, the Skiltons changed the venue for the reunion to Disney World, and for three days in May, 22 members of the Skiltons' international family--including former students and two of the Skiltons' three children, along with their spouses, children and friends--gathered in Orlando, Florida.

"It was fantastic," said Skilton, "one of the high points of our lives."

Soon-Gu Kang (Korea, '94), who traveled from New York City, where he was studying at the Pratt Institute, called the reunion the best experience he had had since coming to the United States, said Skilton.

The group toured Disney World together, and everybody watched a video the Skiltons had prepared, which included photos of all the students they had hosted through the years. They, in turn, presented the Skiltons with gifts and spoke about what it had been like to be the Skiltons' host "children."

"That was a total surprise," said Skilton. "I just cried. I couldn't help it."

The group had such a good time, she added, that another reunion is being planned in five years.

[Editor's note: Alumni wishing to view the Skilton family Reunion video may visit the family's website at <http://pages.prodigy.net/skiltonfamily/reunion>]

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