Five foreign exchange students attend LRHS

Between its size, spirit and location, Lind-Ritzville High School is a classic representation of rural America.

Consequently, the school has five foreign exchange students in attendance. Nora Nerdum Stølan, Ebba Vik, Carlos Vuilleumier, Elora Birkholz and Caroline Eriksson are all seizing the opportunity to gain a genuine look into American culture.

Elora Birkholz journeyed 4,987 miles to LRHS from Potsdam, Germany (near Berlin), a city of 160,000. Birkholz believes the biggest difference in Ritzville is the school.

She said, “I like here a lot. All people are so friendly and my host parents help me by everything. I like the school a lot because it is so many sports after school— it is so different to Germany.”

Birkholz explained her parents originally had the idea for her to study abroad.

She continued, “The language is for me the biggest challenge here.”

She is being hosted by Liz Smith, who is an International Exchange Coordinator for Education First (EF) High School Exchange Year, one of the local programs that works to exchange students between countries.

Caroline Eriksson is staying with Liz Smith and her family alongside Birkholz. Eriksson is from Malmo, the third largest city in Sweden with a population of 300,000 people, which is 4,744 miles from Ritzville.

Eriksson said, “I guess my hometown is pretty different from Ritzville because of its size, [with] more people living there are more sightseeing.”

Her motivation to come to America was to “learn the language properly, meet a lot of new people and do something different from what I’m used to.”

Eriksson continued, “I’m most excited to get the feeling that I have a second home in this world, and to be part of America, Washington, Ritzville, the high school, and my family.”

Birkholz said, “I like it a lot with Caroline because she help[s] me every time I have no idea what I must say to a lot of [things]…”

Birkholz, Eriksson, Vik and Vuilleumier came to Lind-Ritzville through EF.

Founded in Sweden in 1965, EF’s website explains their “mission has been to give confidence and freedom to people of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds.”

Smith supervises 13 students from around the area. She explained the biggest challenge for students is “all of it, really! They leave a life they’ve known for 16-17 years, where it’s easy and familiar in the comfort of their home countries with their natural family and friends to a place where almost literally everything is different and they have to learn to adapt.”

Smith said her favorite part of being a host parent is “knowing we will forever have daughters around the globe, enjoying teenage things like dances and high school sports, learning about other cultures, and making food together.

“Having young children, a huge part is the bond they form with our students and now, hosting two this year, the bond they have with one another as well.”

“It’s a wonderful thing to see the U.S. through someone else’s eyes,” Smith said. “Very humbling, and I’m grateful!”

Nerdum Stølan is the only exchange student who came to LRHS through AFS (formerly the American Field Service).

Founded in 1947, AFS’s mission is to “work toward a more just and peaceful world by providing international and intercultural learning experiences to individuals, families, schools and communities through global partnership.”

Erica Leffel, a junior at LRHS, is in Nerdum Stølan’s host family.

Leffel said, “We really started thinking about hosting an exchange student when we all got to know an exchange student from a couple years ago.

“My favorite part of having Nora around is learning so much about myself, my family, my community and our culture,” Leffel said.

The five foreign exchange students not only have their host families and their programs to rely on, but also each other.

Birkholz mentioned, “I like the other exchange students because all of them are so friendly.”

“I truly love both programs [EF and AFS] and being a coordinator for our program,” Smith concluded. “I think we work well together and I love how LRHS embraces our students!”