LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In the summer of 1989, Louisville radio personality Ron Chilton read a public service announcement about hosting foreign exchange students. On a whim, he mentioned the idea to his family.

Within weeks, a 12-year-old boy named Sergio arrived from Spain, trading sun-soaked Mediterranean days for the rolling hills of Kentucky.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Ron’s daughter, Brandi Neal, remembered. “I don’t even think I knew where Spain was.”

But the connection was instant. Sergio and Brandi were the same age, and the summer was packed with new experiences: an air show in Ohio, sitting in planes at Bowman Field, trips to Kings Island, and late-night Papa Johns pizza runs.

"I learned we’re so much more alike than we are different," Neal said. "Growing up as a teenager, we

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