In order for foreign exchange students to come to America they must contact a sponsor organization in the US. Some popular options include CASE, ISE, AYA and PAX. All of these organizations are approved by the US government to help students find a school and host family. While there is no exact percentage of schools that accept foreign exchange students, almost all schools in the state of Missouri do. One of those schools is Eureka Highschool. It is important to appreciate our foreign exchange students, as their time here is limited.
Maiara Gomes Acioli, 12, is from Spain. She specifically likes our school due to how kind our teachers are, and the size and organization of Eureka.
“I always wanted to have the American Highschool experience,” Acioli said.
Since coming to Eureka Acioli has started playing tennis for our school and is really enjoying it. She plans on joining cross country for the next season. She is also most excited to celebrate American traditions and holidays. Acioli hopes to make this her most unforgettable year.
Along with all the wonderful experiences, there are also challenges. Acioli said that the biggest challenge so far is her English getting in the way of communication. She also explains how transportation is way different here.
“If I want to go to this store, I need a car. And that’s something that doesn’t really happen in Spain. You can walk to every place and we have a lot of public transportation,” Acioli explains.
Dakalo Munyai, 12, is from South Africa. Munyai explains the big difference between Eureka Highschool and his school back home.
“Eureka Highschool is way bigger and at my other school we wear uniforms,” Munyai says.
Munyai also shares how he likes that Eureka has a wider range of subjects so there are more classes to explore.
An important holiday that Munyai likes to celebrate back home is African day. African day is celebrated on May 25. African day is celebrated to commemorate the day when the organization of African unity was formed in 1963.
Although Munyai is having trouble with being home sick and missing his family. He has discovered a new family very important to him. Munyai is staying with the Rauchs this school year and he says he absolutely loves their vibe. Munyai hopes to gain a lot from this amazing experience.
“I hope to gain a different outlook on life and have new decision processes,” Munyai said.
Daniela Diliddo, 12, is from Italy. The biggest difference she has noticed is the lunch and dinner times here. In Italy most people eat lunch around 1
p.m. to 2:30 p.m. In America we eat lunch around 11a.m. to noon. In Italy most people eat dinner around 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. While in America most people eat dinner around 5:30 p.m. to 6p.m. Dildido’s most important holiday at home is sin day. Sin day is November 1and it is a public holiday where they honor all the saints.
Foreign Exchange student fun facts.
“Spain and Mexico are not related,” Acioli says.
“We have 11 official languages,” Munyai says.
“Eggplant parmesan is the best food from Italy,” Diliddo says.
