The Newman Rotary Club recently hosted seven foreign exchange students who are attending Orestimba High School. The students attended the meeting of the club, where they were introduced and had the opportunity to tell about themselves and their country.

Rotarian Bob McConnell, who works with the high school Interact Club, provided background on each students. He also described how his family’s life was enriched by hosting an exchange student.

The seven students at Orestimba this year include Marius Larsen Kinge, Kemely Prado, Anh Nguyen, Florian Richter, Thorben Schlaetzer, Dirk Stumbek and Noemi Tubbs.

Kinge is from a city in Norway similar in size to Newman.  There are many differences in his schools, though. In his home, for example, athletics are typically comprised of club sports rather than organized programs. He is taking advantage of the opportunity by playing varsity football – a new sport for him.

The opportunity to learn English and experience more cultures prompted him to become an exchange student. He is living with Brett and Sara Panarra.

Nguyen is from Vietnam, where she lives in the capital of Hanoi, a city of more than six million.

Students at her private school study 13 subjects during the school year, and there are 50 students in each class; students remain in the same room while teachers rotate from room to room.

She, too, came to experience the American culture and hopes to attend an American university. She is living with Sue and Rich Golda.

Prado hails from Brazil, and she is a native Portuguese speaker.

She lives in Campo Grande, a city of one million residents and said she enjoys the smaller community setting in Newman. She prefers American schools to those in Brazil because students can choose their own subjects. There is no time for sports in her high school, she added, but at OHS she runs cross country and plans to play soccer. She is also living with the Goldas.

Richter is one of four German students studying at OHS this year. He comes from a small town near the Baltic Sea. He is also on the varsity football team, and is enjoying school. He also enjoys Newman because it is larger than his home town and easier to get around to find amenities such as a grocery store or fast-food restaurant. He lives with Brent and Kim Fox.

Schlaetzer also hails from Germany, where he attends a “gymnasium,” or a school for students who plan to attend a university. He is on the OHS soccer team. He lives with the Salvador Mendez family.

Stumbek lives in Berlin, where he also attends a gymnasium. He is a band member, and hopes to play baseball in the spring. He is enjoying the closeness of a small community, and the opportunity to learn another culture and the English language. He is living with Dewayne and Julie Dollahite.

Noemi Tubbs is the fourth German student at Orestimba. She lives with grandparents Keith and Jackie Korsgaard She has long talked about visiting Newman as an exchange student. Tubbs greated enjoys the school spirit at Orestimba and the art class.

(Submitted by Bob McConnell, Newman Rotary Club)