Exchange students enliven YSHS

Recently arrived YSHS foreign exchange students, clockwise from rear left: Clara Lang-Ezeckiel (France), Stephanie Broelingen (Germany), Julika Ruf (Germany), Emanuela DiBenedetto (Italy), Francesco Amighetti (Italy), and Sirigan Singkeaw (Thailand) are immersing themselves in school and village life.

By Virgil Hervey

They have only been here a few weeks, but the six new foreign exchange students at Yellow Springs High School are already forming impressions of their new town, families, and schoolmates. And they uniformly agree that they have been surprised at how friendly and helpful everyone here is, and doubt that foreign exchange students would be so warmly greeted in their own countries.

The advantage to YSHS students of having exchange students is obvious, according to YSHS Principal John Gudgel.

“When we bring in students from other countries it enhances the educational experience for our own kids,” Gudgel said. “It adds to the school’s diversity and gives them a global perspective.”

The number of exchange students this year is much higher than in the recent past, according to Smith. While the school used to average about five or six students from other countries per year, since 9/11, the number has been about one.

This year, Gudgel made an effort to reach out for more exchange students by letting it be known to the various organizations that “we are available.”
“There are so many different organizations that recruit and encourage foreign students to come to the U.S.,” he said. “We simply redeveloped our relationship with them.”

That and YSHS’s reputation as being welcoming to exchange students, “if we have the room,” did the job of attracting new students, Gudgel said.
When the new students were asked in a joint interview, “What is different about school here from your school at home?” the universal response was, “Everything.” When asked, “What is the same?” the answer was, “Homework.”

The students are from Thailand, France, Italy and Germany, with Italy and Germany accounting for two each. However, in certain respects, their experience with schooling at home has been similar in the differences they have found at YSHS. They all attend much larger schools at home, some with enrollments of 2,000 to 3,000, they are not offered elective courses, and the programs are rigorous, especially in math and science. The students are all fluent in English, some of them with hardly a trace of an accent.

Eiam Singkeaw, who attends a high school of 3,000 students in Thailand, said that at home she is required to wear a uniform to school. On the day of the interview at YSHS, she wore a Mickey Mouse t-shirt.

“Here you get to take some fun subjects, such as psychology and contemporary issues,” said Julika Ruf of Germany.

Stephanie Broelingen, also of Germany, was surprised by the school spirit and the social nature of the school experience. In Germany, she said, you go to school and you go home. There is no socializing with your fellow students. Again, the others agreed. And she was also surprised to find that cheerleaders are not the cliquish bad girls portrayed in American movies, she said.

Fancesco Amighetti of Italy added that at home there are no sports in the schools. If you want to play a sport, he said, you must join a club team.
School in their countries generally starts earlier and ends later and they spend the entire day with the same group of students. In some cases they stay in the same room all day and teachers of different subjects come to them; in others the entire group changes rooms together.

Ruf also noted to the universal nods of her peers that lateness is not tolerated at YSHS, whereas back home, if you slip into your seat five or ten minutes late, it’s no big deal. Go figure!

Perhaps the biggest difference is transportation to and from school. In their own countries, they mostly take public transportation, walk, bike or ride a moped. They were all surprised to find that a large number of students in Yellow Springs drive to school. One reason is that in most of their countries, you cannot drive until you are 18, and even then, you must have an adult in the car.

Foreign exchange students can come to the United States with the assistance of a number of different organizations. In this group’s case, they got here either through the Forte International Exchange Association, the Rotary Youth Exchange Program, AFS-USA, or the EF Foundation for Foreign Study. In the case of Clara Lang-Ezekiel of France, whose mother Judith Ezekiel lives in town, she has come on her own while her mother is on sabbatical.

According to guidance counselor Dave Smith, the school’s goal is to provide exchange students with an authentic living experience in their host country for an entire school year. The students are not here as tourists, he said, and any tourism would be incidental to the activities of their host family.

“The exchange programs don’t want them to do anything out of the normal,” Smith said.

The students will each stay with one family for the entire time in Yellow Springs, except in the case of Amighetti, who is here through the Rotary program and will rotate through three households during his stay.

On Friday, Sept. 14, 14 Chilean students arrived for a two-week visit. This will be the second year that the village has hosted high school students from Chile, who will stay with the families of some of their new schoolmates.

At the rate of six exchange students and 14 students from Chile every year, Smith noted, high school students would be exposed to 80 foreign students over a four-year period.

Contact: vhervey@ysnews.com