By Jake McMichael, Wilsonville Rotary Member
Jake McMichael introduces Dawson Durig and YEP student Santi Berios from Argentina.
The Rotary Club of Wilsonville has enjoyed following the adventures of our two Wilsonville High School (WHS) long term outbound students, who are enjoying their high school junior year abroad in Europe. One of our Youth Exchange Program (YEP) students is Amanda Weatherly who is in Poprad, a city in northeastern Slovakia at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort.
Amanda writes that her present host family is outstanding and that her Slovak has improved to the point of understanding most of what goes on in school. She is particularly close to the other foreign exchange students in the city. Biz Harms is spending the year in a southern suburb of Vienna, Austria. She claims that she and her friends all talk in German to each other, though they use easier words and talk slower around her.
Dawson Durig spent all of last summer in Argentina. His host brother, Santi Berios arrived in Oregon on Wednesday March 15th spending a total of five weeks with the Durig family. He has been attending WHS with Dawson as well as enjoying spring break and many other activities that is keeping him and his host family very busy.
The YEP continues into school year 2017-18 with two short term family-to-family exchanges this summer and one long term exchange for the whole school year. Lily Burhop, presently in 10th grade at WHS, is our long term exchange student. She has selected Russia has her first choice country (Switzerland and Austria are backups) where she will be spending her junior year. Lila Dawson, a short termer, is vying for placement in Argentina. Her WHS classmate, Sophia Somerscales, has selected Brazil, Argentina and India has her top three choices. Again, the short termers should be notified soon of where they will be going.