Local Video
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| Rotary exchange students head home |
By: STEPHANIE SOUCHERAY
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NORTHFIELD - Two rotary students and one "honorary rotary member" plan to leave Northfield in the coming weeks after spending the year living here with host families, attending Northfield High School, and even buying prom dresses.
Agnes Malleike and Elwira Bardies, both from Germany, and Daniel Auza, from Bolivia, all participated in the high school's graduation celebration last week, which proved to be a capstone to their experiences in America.
"It was like the movies," said Malleike. "In Germany we don't throw the caps or have the gowns. It was so fun."
Malleike and Auza are the official Rotary Exchange students. The Rotary Youth Exchange, which began in 1927, is one of the oldest student exchange programs in the world. Organized by Rotary members, the program involves more than 82 countries and over 8,000 students each year. Bardies was not a rotary exchange student, but after spending so much time with Rotary students this year, the club gave her a shirt naming her an honorary member.
Vicki Dilley, who hosted Bardies for part of the year and is in charge of Northfield high-schoolers who are outbound exchange students with Rotary, said that Northfield has a great tradition of sending students abroad and welcoming foreign students into the community.
The three students all noted the welcoming attitudes of the students and families they met in Northfield.
"Everyone was so much nicer than I expected," said Auza, 18. "My only impression of coming to Minnesota was the cold. I had no idea about Northfield, the lakes, the Twin Cities, or the two colleges." Auza will return to Bolivia this summer before enrolling as a freshman at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, where he plans to study finance.
Malleike and Bardies will return to Germany for another three years of secondary education, which is standard in Germany.
The rotary students each lived with three families during the school year, a feature Malleike appreciated.
"It was great to see different ways of life in one community." All of the students lamented the American parenting tradition of curfews, but said their host families were generous and welcoming.
"I never just felt like a visitor," said Bardies. "I always felt like a family member."
Malleike and Bardies decided to become exchange students after family friends shared their stories of positive exchange programs. Malleike originally wanted to go to Canada, but the Rotary program tries to best match a student's profile with a community.
"I'm glad I came to Northfield. It was so much more cultural than I expected," said Malleike, who was impressed with the high school's fine arts class offerings.
Auza'a father, brother and sister were exchange students. "It's a family tradition," said Auza of his decision to spend his senior year of high school abroad.
Family was the one thing that made the students' experiences bittersweet. "It was very hard at Christmas," said Malleike. Bardies retold a story of how, after buying her prom dress, she missed her mom when she realized she could not run into her parents' bedroom and show off her new purchase.
Bardies and Auza both said they would miss their their new friendships.
Malleike had a more concrete answer. "I'm going to miss the amazing chocolate chip cookies in the Northfield cafeteria. You can't get those in Germany."
- Stephanie Soucheray can be reached at 645-1114 or ssoucheray@northfieldnews.com.
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