Granville families 'adopt' Denison students stranded by coronavirus

A Granville family of seven has opened their house for several weeks to two Denison University students for whom home is an ocean away.

When schools and universities across Ohio shut down weeks ago, and, eventually, Denison’s campus entirely closed, nearly 70 mostly foreign exchange students who couldn’t return home for online study were left without places to stay in Ohio.

The university sent out the call for a “Homestay” program, seeking faculty and community members who would step up to host students through at least the end of the semester in middle May.

Denison CFO David English said, “We got tremendous response from the community who were willing to open their houses.”

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Jeremy King, director of sustainability and campus improvement, said the Denison “Homestay” program saw 78 families respond.

"We actually placed 69 students with 51 families," King said April 7. "I have to say that I'm so impressed by the broader community and families who have opened their arms and their doors in a time of need. It is this true sense of community cooperation that makes Licking County a special place."  

Sharing space with strangers

Among those community members stepping up were Wendy and Thomas Miller, who is also a member of the Granville Board of Education.

The Millers have five children: Eric, who recently graduated and works in California but who is currently working from the Granville home; Becky, a senior at Granville High School; Nate, a GHS sophomore; Kate, an eighth-grader at Granville Middle School; Jack, a sixth-grader at Granville Intermediate School, and there is also the family dog, Tesla.

For the past several weeks, the family has also hosted DU students Tung “Steve” Nguyen and Yash Pandey.

The Millers live in a spacious house north of the Village, on acreage in turn surrounded by the Denison Biological Reserve.

There is plenty of room inside and out, in that sense, but still nine people (and one dog) under one roof.

Why did the Millers elect to host students stranded by the coronavirus pandemic?

Thomas said, “We saw the call go out, and had the space, and figured it would be a great experience for all of us.”

Wendy said she called Denison and spoke with Jeremy King. “That helped us to get to know the process.” She said King has stayed in touch subsequent to the students moving in with the Miller family.

“It helped that we have the space,” Wendy said. Of Steve and Pash, she said, “They’re helpful, considerate… They ask questions when they need to. It’s been really easy given things. Each have their own room and bathroom,” so it’s not necessary for them “to be in the midst of things” as they might have to be in a different living space.

Initially, the hardest thing, she said, was that the Miller family members were on spring break, while Steve and Yash were not.

Virtual connections to family

Yash is a junior at Denison, studying computer science. Home for Yash is New Delhi, India. Most of his family is there, although he has a brother working in Chicago. He said he calls his parents every few days. His brother and he also maintain regular contact.

COVID-19’s impact in his family’s portion of India?

“My family is currently in the eastern part of India,” Yash said. “Over there, the virus hasn’t really hit yet, so they’re doing fine. They’re not under formal lockdown, but everyone understands they have to be home. Things are fine now in the part of India that they are in.”

Home for Steve is Hanoi, Vietnam. Of family, he said, “I try to call family once a week. We text every day. My family is doing fine. They’re all working from home now. There are only about 250 cases back home in Vietnam. It’s pretty safe there. Mostly, people stay home. And only one person (in the family) goes shopping at a time, for the household.”

Steve is a senior at Denison, majoring in computer science and analytics.

He and Becky Miller share a similar unfortunate experience: Both are enduring senior years unlike anything they envisioned.

Of graduation ceremonies that were postponed for DU, Steve is hopeful something can be done later this summer for himself and other DU seniors: “I do want a graduation.”

In the meantime, Steve and Yash continue online studies here in Granville. While in some ways they say they feel more connection and focus in terms of being essentially a student and a professor, Yash said, “I still miss that human touch. It’s an adjustment.”

Playing host

The Millers had a taste of opening their house to a stranger earlier this year, when they hosted their first high school international exchange student.

That student departed Ohio just shortly before Steve and Yash moved in, returning to their home in Egypt, where the student was required to go straight into two weeks of quarantine.

The only real challenge spoken of during a group interview conducted the rainy morning of April 7 is bandwidth in a house in which there are several working from home, and seven online students.

Evenings are shared dinners…maybe a movie night. Becky said Steve has cooked a couple of meals for the family, but otherwise, “The guys have been very gracious and accepting of what we eat.”

Becky gets out to replenish groceries now and again. She hikes; Steve and Pash go for runs.

Together, the Millers and their guests have completed “a lot of yard work,” according to Thomas.

In a way, Thomas said, it’s helped to have more people rather than fewer in the house: “If it’s just you and a child, or you and two or three other people, I think you could really get cabin fever. I think it’s helped a lot to have a group your sequestered with.”