Marietta City School District has been educating foreign exchange students for years now and for Jade Thompson, MHS Spanish Teacher, this will be the 10th student she has hosted during their time in America.
“The world comes to Marietta High School through various exchange programs, and we are so fortunate to have this cultural experience! Just imagine going thousands of miles away from your homeland to attend school in another language at the age of 15 or 16!” said Thompson.
This year Marietta City Schools has four students who have traveled from far and wide to sample what a high school education is like in Marietta Ohio.
Sofia Hedinsdottir is a 16 year old from the Faroe Islands who is staying with MHS Principal Rinard’s family. A Junior at MHS, Sofia is the first exchange student from the Faroe Islands that Marietta has ever had the pleasure of hosting. The Faroe Islands are located half way between Scotland and Iceland in the Northeast Atlantic. She heard about the exchange student process from her cousin and since that moment she knew she wanted to commit to this experience. “I chose the United States because I was interested in what the high school experience would be like, so far there are many more students here than back home and the way it is organized is much different.”
Maxence Navarro Steffen is living with Mrs. Thompson and is a 16 year old junior here at MHS. Maxence is from Paris, France. He is a huge fan of both tennis and chess and he broadened his horizons by trying crew for a period of time before deciding to focus solely on tennis. One of the main reasons he wanted to participate in this program is to experience a different culture and meet new people. The biggest adjustment for Maxence during his time here in America has been the difference in the food, especially our lack of cheese. He elaborated about our apparent lack of quality cheese, “In France for dinner before our dessert we have like 10 different types of cheese with bread and I love that, but here you don’t have that.”
Santiago “Santi” Garcia Samper is a 15 year old sophomore from Spain who is living with the Mayer family. In addition to learning the culture and making new friends, one of Santi’s main goals with the program was to improve his English. He’s been able to achieve all three thanks to his time at MHS and his participation on the boys’ soccer and tennis teams. “School has been very different, but I like it and I like tennis and soccer.” Santi’s biggest adjustment has been to the food here in America, much like several of his foreign exchange student peers.
Sasamol “Kate” Vipasdumrongkul is a 16 year old junior all the way from Thailand who is living with the Miller family. Kate enjoys baking and is interested in checking out Volleyball during her time here. She is a huge fan of the Twilight movies, dancing and listening to pop music.
Thompson discussed how we all can not only make the experience less daunting for these kids but really make a positive impact on their time here. “Culture shock is common for these students, so they need extra encouragement. Smile at them, ask lots of questions…. there is always something interesting to learn for both parties!”
Any current/former MHS families and students attending MHS or other surrounding high schools that would be interested in starting their own experience abroad can get a taste this upcoming summer. Mrs. Thompson is leading an EF Tour to Spain (Madrid, Cordoba, Sevilla and Barcelona) June 17-26, 2024. More information can be found on by visiting https://www.eftours.com/tour-website/2575881ET or sending an email to Mrs. Thompson at jthompson@mariettacsdoh.org