Sign up to Host-a-Boiler for the winter recess

Purdue University is home to nearly 9,500 students from around the world. During the holiday season, many of those students are unable to travel home. The Host-A-Boiler program was created over 10 years ago to provide a family experience for international students by pairing them with volunteer hosts — Purdue faculty and staff, domestic students with families and others living in the Greater Lafayette area. Participants sign up for a one-time get-together (meal or activity) during the winter break. This is not an overnight stay.

Host-A-Boiler is an opportunity to celebrate family or holiday traditions with some new friends from different backgrounds. Each year around 100 students sign up for the winter break Host-a-Boiler program, and enough volunteer hosts are needed to match all these interested students. To invite an international student into your home over the upcoming winter break, please sign up and select the “Winter Recess Host-a-Boiler 2025” program to provide information and match preferences here.

To learn more about the program, visit https://www.purdue.edu/IPPU/ISS/Student/Programming/HostABoiler/host.html or email the coordinator, Leah Bechtold, at friendship@purdue.edu. Sign up Dec. 1-17 to participate and host a one-time get-together.