Exchange student adjusts in life in area
MOUNT PLEASANT – Teenager Louise Juvent anticipated having first-day-of-school jitters like most high school students, but navigating the halls of Mount Pleasant Area Junior and Senior High School seemed all the more daunting for the foreign exchange student from Belgium because she was so far from home. Juvent, 18, and eight other exchange students came to the United States as part of a youth exchange program with the Rotary District 7330, which covers Fayette, Greene, Washington, Westmoreland, Indiana, Somerset, Cambria and part of Allegheny counties with 45 Rotary clubs within the district. The youth exchange group recently attended a 12-hour orientation session at the Laurelville Mennonite Retreat Center in Mount Pleasant before the start of classes to curb fears and receive a proper introduction to the United States.
To make a good first impression, the Rotary played games like the Name Game, where players pass a ball and repeat the names of each player, with the students during the orientation.
Katy Doran, district chairwoman of the youth exchange program, said most of the students received an orientation before leaving home, but the Rotary likes to build on that foundation.
“Our orientation is to reinforce what you learn being a Rotary exchange student and prepare you for life in the United States,” she said, adding that the rules consist of the four D’s: No drugs, drinking, dating or driving.
“We don’t want romances – one-on-one relationships,” she said. “They’re here to build friendships. Group dates are perfectly acceptable. It boils down to no romance, no sex. A serious romance that interferes can get you sent home.”
As for the second D, Doran said teenage drinking in other countries is not a crime, so the Rotary must make the exchange students aware of consequences.
“It’s not a moral judgment, it’s the law,” she noted.
The exchange students also learned about “cultural differences” such as slang and how to adapt from one way of life to another.
The most “glaring” difference between life in other countries and life in America is transportation, Doran said, noting that in other countries even the smallest communities have easy access to public transportation.
“They lose that independence when they’re here,” she said.
The students might also need to adjust to a new eating schedule. Food is different in taste and timing, Doran said. In many countries breakfast is “heavy” and the main meal is served at noon followed by a late dinner around 8 p.m., she explained.
The orientation offered more than an introduction to the American way of life, however. The students also met one another. The nine students came from Belgium, Brazil, Chile, France, Finland, Japan, Ecuador, Germany and Thailand.
Mel Baxter, a member of the Brownsville Rotary and coordinator for outbound students, said the orientation session allowed the students to “connect with each other” and offered them “someone to compare notes with,” as well as a “world view.”
Juvent had been in the United States one week when she first viewed the sights and sounds of the Mount Pleasant school during a tour.
“The school is very big,” she said. “I’m going to be lost.”
Juvent, who plays basketball and is looking forward to participating in sports, already received enough educational credit in Belgium to attend university in her country, she said, but wanted to experience America.
“I want to discover the United States and learn English,” she said. “I want to make my own opinion of the United States.”
The Rotary is looking for students to apply for departure in July and August 2007.