Each school year brings a new group of exchange students to South. This year’s exchange students come here from across the globe, from Japan to Norway to Brazil and many countries in between. For the 2019-2020 school year, South will be hosting nine full-year exchange students. They will be staying through June and walking at graduation.
The students come through a variety of different programs including: Cultural Homestay International, Rotary, Education First, Education, Travel, and Culture and International Experience. CHI is a worldwide student exchange platform partnered with the United States Department of State which provides students with opportunities to work and study abroad. Rotary also provides youth exchanges with the goal of building peace and fostering international relationships. Education First connects families in the United States to students abroad who want to attend school in the United States. Education, Travel, and Culture offers exchange programs for students and also gives families in the United States opportunities to host. International Experience is a program which allows students to study solely in the United States. Their goals are to embrace global citizenship and dispel prejudices.
Jessie Rieck comes to South from Northern Germany, close to the Baltic Sea. So far, Rieck has found that parts of Oregon remind her of home in Germany, especially the rainy weather. However, South is very different from her German school. In her school, the students stay in one class all day and the teachers rotate. Plus, there are also only 800 kids there in grades 5th-12th, compared to South with over 2000 kids in four grades. She came to America because she wanted to try new things and so she’s hoping to visit lots of places around Oregon during her year here.
Ece Cal is from Izmir, Turkey. She really likes South and has found many differences between schools in the United States and schools in Turkey. Everything is different from the sports offered to the bell schedules. In Turkey, students can not change their classes. They take 15 classes year-round, consisting of science, history, philosophy, geography and more. At South, Cal loves digital art due to her interest in graphic design. She decided to come to America because her of her brother, who was an exchange student in Salem four years ago. Before she leaves, Cal would like to try as many American things as possible!
From Southwest Poland, Aleksander Fall came to Salem. Fall has found that South is more modern than his school in Poland. He was impressed by the fact that every class has a cart full of chromebooks. Fall traveled here to improve his English skills and because he thought it would be a good adventure. Before he leaves he is looking forward to visiting the Grand Canyon, Florida and travelling in Oregon.
Antoine Pessonnier comes from Southwest France. Pessonnier is an avid basketball player and plans to try out for South’s team this winter. However, he does not just limit his activity to basketball, his favorite class at South is team sports. He decided to come to America because he thinks America is “cool” and before he leaves he hopes to visit the coast.
From Tokyo, Japan, Yuma Matsuo came to Salem. Matsuo has found that students at South are very helpful and nice, he is impressed by everyone’s willingness to answer his questions.
“I like the people’s personalities, I mean, everyone [has] opened their minds, you know, so that I can make new friends easily. They’re so very helpful and very nice,” Matsuo said.
Matsuo has found that South is very different from his school in Tokyo. In his school, students learn with the same grade, so they never interact with students from other classes. He has enjoyed his experience at South so far and hopes to make over 100 friends before he leaves.
Desideria Budau comes from Northern Italy. So far, Budau has liked how the schools in the United States are organized. She enjoys the ability to change her classes, with her favorite being Psychology. Back in Italy, she had to choose between psychology and languages and she chose languages. So, she is excited to have the opportunity to take psychology. Before she leaves, she is excited to go to Prom and visit the Grand Canyon.
“I wanted to actually speak English. You can learn a language but never actually know how to use it. I also wanted to be independent,” Budau said, when asked why she came to America.
From the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan, Hiyori Tanaka came to Salem. She has found South to be very different from her school in Japan. In her school, students have to wear uniforms and are not permitted to change their hair color. Additionally, teachers are very strict. Before she leaves Oregon, Tanaka wants to go and explore Portland.
“I want to go to Portland to go shopping and visit all of the art museums. I love contemporary art. I also love fishing and I want to fish here,” Tanaka said.
Keven Oliveria is from Sao Paulo, Brazil. His favorite part of America so far has been school, in particular math, because he finds it easy. He came to the United States to study and was surprised to discover how big South was. In Brazil, his school is much smaller. Before he leaves, Oliveria would like to visit Crater Lake.
Hans Hannam comes from the South of Norway. He decided to come to America to experience high school here and to try something new. So far, his favorite part of school has been the great teachers. Hannam loves marketing and physics particularly because he is very interested in both subjects. Before he leaves, he would like to visit Crater Lake, Mt. Hood, Seattle and attend a Blazers game.
