Foreign exchange students find themselves at home in Rexburg

REXBURG — A rodeo cowgirl. A soccer participant. A female wrestler. A theater tech. A woodworker. A volleyball participant. Their passions are broad and various, but just one matter they have in frequent is that each of these high schoolers took a likelihood on residing in the U.S. for a yr.

They arrived from all about the globe, including from Bolivia, Italy, Spain and Germany, to take element in an trade college student method provided by SHARE! Substantial School Trade Plan.

The teens were being strangers to their host people when they arrived in the States less than a 12 months back, but now a lot of of them sense like element of the relatives — and the feeling is mutual.

Chrissi Goeppel, 16, came to the U.S. from her hometown of about 85 persons in Kaudorf, Germany. Goeppel hopped off the airplane and on to a horse, commencing her 10-month rodeo vocation on working day one of her remain with her host loved ones.

“Her plane came in though I was at the rodeo with my daughter,” says Goeppel’s host mom, Dee Dee Tucker of Rexburg. “I just told her she was entered.”

Goeppel took to the rodeo right from the commence and has loved competing throughout her remain. She even competed in a rodeo queen levels of competition, earning herself her pretty have belt buckle at the Whoopee Times Rodeo in Rexburg in July.

Her curiosity in rural lifestyle does not halt at rodeo. Goeppel speaks enthusiastically of her time at Madison Substantial University, and in particular the associations she developed with students and lecturers in the agriculture office, declaring she spends all her time “in the ag developing.”

“I like it out there,” she states. “I appreciate the academics.”

Goeppel, who was presently an seasoned horse rider in advance of coming to Rexburg, discovered a good in good shape with the Tuckers, her host loved ones. She’s grow to be these types of a component of the relatives that no a single is phased when she speaks of her host family’s kin as her personal. Cousins, Grandma and Grandpa, aunts and uncles — they’re all hers now.

“I never know how I’m gonna live without Addie (her host sister) and you guys and the rodeo,” Goeppel suggests to Tucker as she prepares to return to Germany.

Miguel Angel Achá Boiano is a 17-calendar year-previous soccer participant from Bolivia. He determined to occur to the U.S. to boost his English. He hopes the talent will aid him in his potential experienced pursuits. Right now, he thinks he’d like to be a programmer or some variety of engineer.

Boiano says he did not have many expectations about living in the U.S., but it was a big adjust coming from a town with millions of persons to compact-city Idaho.

His host mother, Deidra Smith of Rexburg, states this was the to start with time the family experienced hosted an exchange pupil. They thought of it very first since her oldest kid requested if they could do it.

“We read through (Boiano’s) profile, and it just felt proper,” Smith mentioned. “And he has been an wonderful kid. Miguel is so accountable and handy.”

Smith claims her spouse and children is a “soccer family,” and that owning Boiano in their household for the university year has been a excellent expertise for the entire family.

“I assume he has bonded with all of the young children in diverse approaches,” Smith claims.

An additional perk of owning an trade college student, in accordance to Smith, is the publicity to a different society devoid of the headache of leaving home.

“You get to vacation without having leaving the comfort and ease of your possess house,” Smith states.

“The only rule that I experienced when coming listed here was, under no circumstances say no to a new practical experience.”

Valentina Susanni, 17, from Milan, Italy, needed to appear to the United States to have the American significant university knowledge, and she jumped in with both of those ft. She ran cross nation and monitor and was one of a handful of women on the Madison Superior College wrestling crew.

Her host mom, Becky Greene of Rexburg, suggests this was her 3rd time web hosting an exchange student. The Greenes experienced beforehand hosted Italians two times and ended up looking at inviting somebody from an additional place this time.

“But we saw Valentina’s (profile), and every human being in the family was like, ‘That’s the 1,’” Greene explained.

In Greene’s expertise, exchange pupils are eager to be associated in their universities and communities.

“Each just one, they include themselves,” Greene claims. “They leap in and they’re outgoing. They really put them selves in with out holdbacks.”

Susanni suits that description to a T. She suggests, “The only rule that I experienced when coming here was, never ever say no to a new practical experience.”

Adriana Fernandez, 15, of Madrid, preferred to obtain out if the matters she’d learned about daily life in The united states have been accurate.

“I just wished to see if it was essentially like the flicks,” she claims.

But not every little thing was like the movies.

“No a single works by using their lockers and individuals are nicer,” Fernandez states.

Host mother Hydee Graybill of Rexburg claims the most effective areas of obtaining Fernandez in her property for the previous yr were being the friendships designed with her small children and encountering points in a new way.

“It was exciting to see and encounter things via her eyes,” Graybill says. “It was enjoyment to get to know her culture.”

Leonardo Ferroni, 17, of Pisa, Italy, suggests the progress in his English techniques will assistance him get a very good occupation when he returns household.

“I live in a metropolis that is based in tourism,” he suggests. “My expertise of English has actually improved, so I can effortlessly come across a career in close proximity to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.”

Mainly because he did not know English incredibly properly when he arrived, Ferroni was hesitant to jump into social situations at first and he swore he’d never ever show up at a faculty dance. But as soon as he commenced to come to feel far more comfortable speaking and producing close friends, “he purchased a accommodate and he’s been to a few (dances),” claims his host mom, Emi Flamm.

Ferroni suggests he has liked the dissimilarities he has uncovered in his American university when compared to his Italian college. He enjoys possessing entry to a gymnasium at faculty and the “diversity of classes.” When attending Madison High University, he has taken courses in food items and diet, pictures, ability schooling, Excel, and woodworking (wherever he produced his host family a wonderful picket checkerboard).

Like other trade college students, he has even preferred to just take Latter-day Saint seminary courses, even although he’s not a member of the church.

Ferroni states he has loved participating with his host family members in their getaway traditions and heading along on family adventures — especially to Hawaii.

“They introduced me to Hawaii!” he suggests. “It was genuine, and it was astounding.”

When requested if he prepared to return to Rexburg someday, Ferroni responds with an enthusiastic “Yes!” and a fistbump to his host brother Jarum.

SHARE! Coordinator Tracy Barney claims she enjoys observing how the trade students become like family members through their 10-month keep. She’s operating on matching up host families and exchange pupils for the coming 2022-2023 university year.

For a lot more data on internet hosting a scholar, get in touch with Barney at 208-881-4341 or [email protected]