Student selections

Photo

Neighbors | Submitted.Many students at Canfield High School travel to Canfield from different countries around the world to experience American culture.

By Sarah Heaven, Canfield High School junior

Canfield High School students complain that there is nothing to do around town and thus, the term “Canfield Bubble” was coined. Some students have escaped this bubble by going to another country.

CHS has many students involved with foreign exchange programs. Most students are able to go because of involvement with the Rotary Club. High school exchange students normally go away for ten months and experience a full school year abroad.

Bella Daul is an exchange student from Austria.

“I have been learning English in school for six years, but being here and constantly having to speak English has made it easier to learn because I don’t even have to think about it now,” said Daul.

Daul has made many adjustments, such as having every school subject every day. Her school in Austria was similar to a college course schedule.

During her time in America, Bella stays with a host family. She wrote a letter to the Rotary which helped them choose a family with which she would fit. While she is in America, she is required to stay with at least two families, as this is Rotary’s means of exposing the students to more cultural diversity.

By coming to America, Daul said she “has become more independent, has more friends, and now has a second home.”

At age twelve, junior Cameron Maras was exposed to a different culture when his family hosted a boy from Japan.

“My dad jumped at the opportunity for me and my siblings to gain a different view of the world,” Maras said. “I learned some Japanese in the process and about Japanese culture. The culture is very family- and school-oriented. US schooling is laid back compared to Japan, where they have year-round schooling.”

Junior Kirsten Lydic is planning to go to Sweden for her senior year. She is learning Swedish using applications on her phone, though most of Sweden is predominately English-speaking.

Lydic wants to learn to appreciate the differences in cultures around the world, and saw this as the perfect opportunity.