By Georgia Thelen
Review Staff Writer
Lake Orion High School has always strived to bring exchange students over seas for the school year, but the 2016-17 school year has set a new record with 23 students.
On September 14, these 23 students and four students with very limited English whose families recently moved to Lake Orion, got together for a chance to learn each others names, exchange stories and see a bit more about what Lake Orion had to offer from current student stories. The room was buzzing with chatter, students speaking Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian and English to name a few.
“Meeting people, getting involved, that’s what makes your year memorable,” said counselor and event coordinator, Michele Novak.
The day started with all 27 students introducing themselves, classic for the first day of school. Kari Hays, special education teacher, led the students in a name game to encourage remembering everyone’s names and to stress the importance of getting to know your fellow classmates.
“Names are very important as I’m sure you guys know. You’ve probably had your name mispronounced a thousand times already since being here,” said Hays.
The students continued to be led through several games including one similar to musical chairs where students had to find commonalities between themselves and their nearby peers when the music stopped. There were also a few games that involved no speaking, so students put the language barrier aside and came up with creative ways to communicate.
Celia Melendi Ortega, a sophomore student from Spain, said this is her second exchange program. Her first student exchange was last year in Ireland for 15 days, so she’s excited to get the full year experience.
“I have a friend that came to America last year and he had a great experience. My friends said I could also go if I wanted to, so I came,” said Melendi Ortega.
Other students are also looking forward to this different experience and are anticipating prom, graduation, spring break, learning to ski and snowboard and even how to drive a diesel truck.
For more information on the exchange student program or becoming a host parent, contact Michele Novak at Michele.novak@lok12.org.