By MYRNA FOSTER
Moapa Valley Progress
All seven of this year’s foreign exchange students have arrived, settling in with their new Moapa Valley families and figuring out their new schedules. Last week, we introduced Lisa (Ching-Ting) Huang and Sally (Pei-Chuan) Yang, both of Taipei, Taiwan. This week’s article introduces the rest of the group.
Ja (Pornsawan) Luangamornlert is a sixteen-year-old from Bangkok, Thailand. She will be a junior at MVHS this year. Ja said that, at home, she liked to play the violin, read novels, and cook. She especially liked to make cake. She said that she’s here to see American culture and go to school like an American student. While she’s here, Ja would love to see the Grand Canyon.
Jade Schut will be attending MVHS as a senior. This seventeen-year-old from Holland said that she likes to play tennis and the piano. At home, in The Hauge, she mostly liked to hang out with her friends.
Jade said, “Since I was twelve, I’ve had this great big love for America.” She hopes to learn a lot about Americans, meet new people, make friends, and see a lot of the area. Jade said that she’s trying out for the tennis team at the high school. She would love to see Disneyland and Los Angeles. She arrived on Tuesday, August 12, and is staying with Logandale residents Mike and Bev Qualheim.
Mani (Manon) Reinle, a fifteen-year-old from La Sarrat, Switzerland, will be a sophomore this year. At home, Mani liked reading books, watching TV, drawing, dancing, and playing with her little brother. She likes playing with her new sister in her host family. She’s staying with Kimberly and Kevin Sease of Logandale. Mani hopes to visit some of the other states, hang out with new friends, and go to the cinema. She plans to be on the cheerleading team at MVHS. Mani also said she’d be taking cooking, photography, and Spanish, which are all new to her.
Tarn (Nathanard) Sirisambhand of Bangkok, Thailand, and Signe Berg of Roskilde, Denmark, are both staying with Logandale residents Gilbert and Stephanie Valerio. Both girls are sixteen and will be juniors.
Gilbert Valerio said that he and his wife had expressed interest in hosting an exchange student a while back. And when Linda Taylor, a regional coordinator for the EF Foundation, contacted them, their fourteen-year-old was excited about having an exchange student stay with them. Originally, they were just going to take Signe. Valerio said that the more they looked over her bio, it just felt right. Then they agreed to take Tarn temporarily. Valerio said that one day Tarn was talking to her parents and said her dad wanted to talk to them. Tarn’s father told the Valerios how much Tarn enjoyed being with them and asked them to keep her for the year. So, they agreed to host her, as well.
“She’s a good kid,” Valerio said. “I really like her. Her parents are fantastic people. Both girls’ parents are. I can tell that they really love their daughters.”
Valerio added that Signe is wonderful to be around because she’s so positive.
Tarn expressed appreciation for the Valerios. When asked what she’d like to do while she’s here, she said that she would like to try surfing and hockey. She’d love to go to Disneyland and Las Vegas, but she’d be happy to do whatever her host family wants. She plans to try out for tennis.
Tarn said that in Thailand she liked basketball, ice skating, swimming, and flow boarding. She’s been playing the piano for five years.
Signe, on the other hand, will be playing on the high school soccer team. She said that she’s played soccer for five or six years. She went to an open field right after she arrived and really liked Coach Cornwall and the girls.
She would also like to join some clubs, take a cooking class, and learn Spanish.
Signe said that Roskilde, Denmark, wasn’t very big, so she’s used to being in a small town. She lived on a small farm with chickens and dogs and cats.
She isn’t used to the climate, though. Signe said that 70 degrees Fahrenheit is considered hot at home. She said her home is more humid because it’s close to the ocean.
“I really like the American people,” Signe said. “I like the diversity. We don’t really have that in Denmark.” She said religion there is 70% Protestant and 5-10% Muslim. “I think it’s really cool that you can just choose what you want to believe in.” She also loved that there were people from so many different nationalities.
