When Merlo was packing her bags in her small North-Italian town, she was preparing herself to leave everything she knew behind her for the next few months.
“I live in a small town, so here it’s the opposite, it’s totally different,” said junior Sofia Merlo, an exchange student from Italy.
Exchange programs give the opportunity to students from all over the world to interact with students from our school. It also gives the chance to our school to talk to people who have a different culture and are used to a different school system.
“The students who are in Highland Park get to meet people from all over the world, they get to learn about those other parts of the world” English teacher and liaison for American Field Service, an exchange student program , Heather Huhn said
Huhn has been the liaison for American Field Service for 2 years now and has helped students like Merlo adjust to their life in Dallas by coordinating important details that support the student’s experience like matching them with host homes.
“ I was really scared to get to know my family, what if I don’t get along with my host sister, and sort of things like that, but I was lucky, I was really lucky, and as soon as I landed, I found myself really, really at ease with them” said Merlo.
HPISD parent, Stephanie Hutchens never thought about hosting and supporting an exchange student before seeing a post on a volleyball Facebook site about an exchange student who loved volleyball and was looking to be matched with a host family. But now, she would gladly do it again.
“If I’m going shopping, I take her shopping. If we go to coffee, I treat her to coffee. I want her to feel just like my own daughter and make her feel welcome” Merlo’s host mom, Hutchens said.
Even if Hutchens already knew a bit about Italian culture, welcoming Merlo into her home taught her lessons she could not have gained from books or travel.
“ We were very familiar with the Italian culture because we’re there a lot but I did learn that they don’t have athletics or sporting events through their schools” Hutchens said.
Life in Highland Park, however, has been nothing like the quiet pace of her Italian hometown. Between classes and volleyball practices, Merlo has found herself swept into a rhythm much quicker than what she was used to.
“It goes really, really fast, so even if I go home at 5, I don’t have time to do anything, because at 5.30 we have to go to volleyball” Merlo said.
Even with all these changes, Merlo pushed through because it has been a childhood dream of hers to study abroad. The different exchange student programs that Highland Park hosts allow several students to have this kind of experience every year giving them opportunities that will shape their futures.
“They’re forcing themselves to live within the culture, to live within the American school system. And that’s great” Huhn said.
Merlo’s journey is exactly what student exchange programs hope to inspire. For students, meeting someone like Merlo means getting a glance of life in another part of the world. For Merlo, it means learning what it feels like to live as a teenager in Dallas, surrounded by football games, pep rallies, and busy school days.
“I always told everyone since I arrived here that if they want to do it, they have to do it” Merlo said.
