International students trickling back to B.C. under loosened restrictions on school districts

While the number offoreign students in B.C. has fallen dramatically during theCOVID-19 pandemic, some school districts are faring better than others in attracting primary and secondarystudents.

Kamloops in the province's southern Interior, for instance, is down by 36 per cent compared to Vernon, about 100kilometres away, which lost almost 60 per cent of its foreign students in the current academic year.

Vancouver is down a mere 29 per cent, according to figures supplied to CBC News by 10 school districts

Stella She, an 18-year-old from Hsinchu, Taiwan, is one of the almost 12,000 youngpeople from outside Canada to enrol ina B.C. school this academic year halfthe number ofthe previous year, according to provincial data.

After two months of online remote learning from the East Asian island state, She arrived inNovember tostudyGrade 12 at South Kamloops Secondary School which, like all other primary and secondary schools across the province, wasapprovedby the federal government to reopen to international students in October.

She flew nearly 10,000 kilometres across the Pacific with the goal ofhoningher English language skills, enriching herself inthe more open learning environment here and, ultimately, attendinga Canadian university.

"In Canada there's more group talking, and we can communicate with our classmates and discuss the concepts of the course," She said. "But in Taiwan, we usually just do it [studying] individually."

Taiwan has largelykeptits daily new cases of COVID-19 in the single digits since the pandemic began in early 2020, a far cry from the hundreds of cases per day in B.C. since last fall.

She admits she made her decision with trepidation.

"I feel frustrated and scared," She said. "Before I went [onto] the airplane, I [took] a look [at] the news of the COVID-19 in Canada the people tested positive werestill increasing."

Now she's living with Kamlopshomestay parent Shelly Mattis, who hashosted students from Brazil, Germany and Switzerland over the lastdecade.

Mattis says she strictly followed the COVID-19 protocols when the Taiwanese student joined her two-person family which includesher daughter who is studying at a local university fora government-mandated 14-day quarantine.

"She [went] straight to the room that she [would] be staying in," Mattis said. "She literally only was using the washroom and her own bedroom for that full two weeks, and when I provided meals, I would leave everything outside of her bedroom."

Mattis says they are no longer wearing masks inside the house as they did during the quarantine, because they have formed a core family bubble after staying together for months.

Mattis says she regrets not being able to introduce She to dinner parties with her extended family in Kamloops due to the current provincial ban on social gatherings.

To compensate, she's tried to makethe international student feel welcome bydecorating She's bedroom with all sorts of Canadian memorabilia. And then there's cuddlingMattis's cat Theo, a new companion She enjoys.

"During the holidays, we did our family traditional things like making gingerbread houses, which she had never done before," Mattis said.

The host family and She also planto celebrate the Lunar New Year which ismajor holidayin Taiwan.

Tap the link below to hear Kent Brewer, principal of international student program in Kamloops school district, on Daybreak Kamloops: