School offers host family opportunity to community

Residents of the city of Natchitoches and Natchitoches Parish are invited to sign up to participate in the Host Family program offered by LSMSA.

“This program was put in place to offer additional support to our students who are away from home and don’t have easy access to their families,” said Audra Allen, co-coordinator of the program at LSMSA.

The Host Family program provides a caring “home away from home” experience for students who would like to build a friendship with a local family. Area families “adopt” students to make them feel welcome and to help them develop ties to the Natchitoches community. Matches are made between families and students based on interests and individual requests.

Any LSMSA student who wishes to have a host family may apply. Priority will be given to those students who live further from Natchitoches and will not be able to go home as often.

Host families may include single parents, families with children and retirees. They should be active members of the community who wish to get to know LSMSA students and offer them a support structure outside of the school community. Faculty and staff at LSMSA also serve as host families.

LSMSA is a preeminent state-supported residential high school with competitive admissions for high ability students. Selected students come from throughout the state and reside on campus for their sophomore, junior and senior years of high school. Established by the Louisiana state legislature in 1982, LSMSA belongs to an expanding group of state-supported, residential high schools founded to serve the academic, artistic and creative needs of gifted high-achieving students.

To “adopt” an LSMSA student or for more information, contact Jenny Schmitt at jschmitt@lsmsa.edu or 318-357-2540.