Foreign Exchange Students at SHS
Written by Karl Houtman, Former Student on Monday, September 28, 2015
With the new school year, there are several foreign exchange students at SHS that come from many different countries.
These students are here through the organization CHI, or Cultural Homestay International, which is a foreign exchange program designed to “carefully match international exchange students with wonderful American host families and U.S. high schools,” as said on their website.
Marion Lourdes Adelson, Victoria Echaide Alcazar and Eva Gampe are all foreign exchange students at SHS this year. Adelson is from France, Gampe is from Germany and Alcazar is here from Spain.
The foreign exchange students are here after careful selection from the administration and Principal Beth Porter. In the past, there have been as many as eight students to come here from different countries, but the numbers have decreased in recent years to around three or four.
Adelson and Gampe are both juniors, and Alcazar is currently a sophomore.
“School is a lot more fun here,” said Gampe. “[We don’t have] leadership or DECA in Germany.” Gampe is currently a DECA student at SHS, while Alcazar is looking forward to playing girl’s tennis in the spring.
Gampe is currently residing with the Deierling family, while Adelson and Alcazar are staying with the Greene family.
“In Spain we don’t change classes, we’re always in the same classroom. You’re always with the same people. Everything’s different,” said Alcazar.
CHI currently is associated with 30 countries outside of the United States in the hopes of bringing foreign exchange students to high schools all across the country. If a student is interested in becoming an exchange student themselves, they can search for the organization that the country is associated with. If interested in becoming a host family for an exchange student, go to CHI's website.
