By IAN HILL

By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- The students at Canfield High School were leaning over one another's shoulders, straining to get a glimpse of who was coming into the building.
When Tiffany Nocon walked through the school's front doors, the students erupted in cheers.
"I kept on looking around like, who's here?" she said. "I guess there was a lot of hype."
Tiffany, 15, of Fontana, Calif., near Los Angeles, wasn't a typical transfer student. Her day at Canfield High School was being filmed for "Switched!," a half-hour reality television show on the ABC Family Network.
The show calls for two young people to switch lives for a long weekend and experience each other's daily routines.
From May 6-10, Tiffany switched lives with Nick Wagner, 17, a 6-foot 1-inch, 250-pound offensive lineman on the Canfield High School football team who also throws the shot with the track team.
Tiffany, who is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds, threw the shot during Canfield's track practice and took part in football conditioning exercises, pulling a pickup truck in the high school parking lot. She also competed in a pasta-eating contest against two of Nick's friends.
Nick, of North Palmyra Road, said he spent much of his weekend in California learning to be a hip-hop dancer with Tiffany's dance group. He also took part in a dance exhibition in front of about 200 people.
New season
The "Switched!" episode featuring Nick and Tiffany is slated to air sometime during the show's new season, set to begin June 21.
"It was such a great experience," Nick said.
He said he applied to appear on "Switched!" at the urging of his sister, Becca, 13. The two made a videotape describing Nick's life in Canfield and sent it to the show in March.
"We thought there was no way in the world this would ever happen," said Nick's mother, Terri.
Nick did a phone interview with a "Switched!" representative a week later, and there was a second interview in April, during which Nick told the interviewer that there were three things he wouldn't do if selected to appear on the show: He wouldn't dance ballet, he wouldn't be a cheerleader, and he wouldn't be a hip-hop dancer.
At about the same time, Tiffany answered an Internet advertisement seeking someone who was interested in urban dancing to take part in the show.
"I sent in an audition tape thinking nothing of it, but then I got a call two or three days later," Tiffany said.
Both Tiffany and Nick learned they would be on the show in early April, but they weren't told where they were going until the day taping started. Nick said he received a text message on his phone while sitting in his living room with his family early May 6, stating: "Hi, my name is Tiffany. I live in Fontana, California. Let's switch lives."
Tiffany said she got a similar text message from Nick while she was with her dance group.
"What I first thought is, what is there to do in Ohio?" Tiffany said. "Here, I'm used to city life. When I thought of Ohio, I thought of cows and corn."
Nick said he had to pack almost immediately after he got the text message, and by that afternoon, he was on a plane to California.
After he landed, he was taken to Tiffany's house, where he was welcomed by her family.
"When I knocked on the door, it was great," Nick said. "It was a great welcome. Everyone was loud, saying, 'Hey, how's it going?'"
Not all reality
Tiffany also received a warm welcome from Nick's family and friends when she arrived in Canfield that night.
The next morning, before Tiffany went to Canfield High School, Nick's family said they found that reality television isn't always real. Terri said she was prompted by the show's film crew to ask Tiffany what she typically eats for breakfast, while the family also said the crew told them to nod their heads for a set-up shot.
Nick added that the film crew in California told him to make mistakes during his dance rehearsals so it looked like he was facing more of a challenge in the dance exhibition. He said he was comfortable with the routine when he was told to make the mistakes.
Nick noted that Tiffany's sister told him he would be learning hip-hop dancing the morning after he arrived in California.
"I said 'Great ... I'm going to go hip-hop dancing. This should be funny,'" he said.
Nick's performance
To prepare for the dance exhibition, Nick said he took part in a 40-minute class with Tiffany's dance group, and that he helped teach a beginner dance class. He said just before the exhibition, the crowd began to chant his name.
"I was so nervous before I did it, my palms were sweating. It was ridiculous," he said.
Nick said he could feel an adrenaline rush during the exhibition, and as a result, he doesn't remember much about how he danced. He successfully completed the exhibition, and he received a plaque in honor of his accomplishment.
Tiffany didn't fare so well during the pasta-eating contest at Jolly Joe's restaurant on the South Side. She said at first, she thought she'd easily defeat Nick's friends, as she typically eats more than her friends and family in California.
Then she saw the plates of pasta.
"They were huge," Tiffany said.
She said she ate as much as she could, but she couldn't keep up with Nick's friends.
The next day, Tiffany left Canfield for California, where she met Nick for the first time. She said during her weekend in the Mahoning Valley, she learned that Ohio wasn't all cows and corn.
"I think it's a great place to raise a family, a great place to grow up," she said. "I really, truly miss it."
Nick, who also visited Malibu and Hollywood, said he feels more confident and outgoing as a result of his time in California.
"It's ridiculous how much I've changed, how much everything's changed," he said.
hill@vindy.com