PAGE A6, KEIZERTIMES, AUGUST 3, 2018
KeizerCommunity
McNary students tour Germany
KEIZERTIMES.COM
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary senior Kate Bomar
signed up for German three
years ago for the chance to visit
the country.
“My brother went a long
time ago and I really wanted to
explore the world,” said Bomar,
who had never been outside of
the United States.
The trip was everything she
could have hoped for.
“It was amazing. I got to
meet so many different peo-
ple,” Bomar said. “It was really
interesting learning about the
culture. The world is so much
bigger than what you think it is.
Sometimes I forget that there’s
so many people out there. It
was so cool learning about the
history and it just gives you a
good look on life.”
Bomar was one of 29 Mc-
Nary students who spent four
weeks in Germany this sum-
mer, June 22-July 19.
For the fi rst three weeks, stu-
dents stayed with host families
as part of an exchange program
with McNary’s partner school,
Königin-Olga-Stift Gymna-
sium, a bilingual college prep
high school in Stuttgart.
The exchange is in its 28th
year. While German students
visit Keizer every spring, Mc-
Nary travels once every two
years.
Nigel Guisinger, McNary
graduate and Germany ex-
change participant who owns
Willamette Valley Appliance,
donated $2,500 to the ex-
change for needy students. His
gift helped fi ve McNary stu-
dents afford to go to Germany.
While in Stuttgart, Mc-
Nary students gave presenta-
tions to fi fth graders on what
life was like at their high school
in America. They also fol-
lowed their host student along
through their classes.
Drew Faatz, a 2018 gradu-
ate of McNary, took German
for four years. His father had
spent two years in Heidelberg,
Germany when he was about
his age.
“Having the German teach-
ers (John Mangan and Elizabeth
Jacobson-Secor) at McNary
speak German to us all the time
was pretty helpful because it
wasn’t as much of a shock when
we got there,” Faatz said. “We
were already used to hearing
German all the time.”
While speaking German on
the trip wasn’t required, it was
encouraged.
“I have students who really
make an effort to use German
while they’re there and it’s phe-
nomenal how much they are
able to improve and what they
Submitted
McNary High School took 29 students to Germany on June 22-July 19 as part of an exchange program.
are able to get from that,” said
Mangan who was one of three
chaperones along with Secor
and Joseph Wehrli, superinten-
dent for the St. Paul School
District. “Even the students
who don’t make that much of
an effort, it’s phenomenal what
they’re still picking up. There’s
a great deal they’re learning
while they’re there that’s going
in and comes out later in class.”
The McNary group went on
day trips to Strasbourg, France
and Rottenburg, Germany.
“It was a fairy tale town,”
Bomar said of Strasbourg. “I felt
like I was right in the middle of
the Snow White movie.”
The Keizer students spent
their fi nal fi ve days in Germany
in Munich, staying in a youth
hostel.
They walked down the same
street where in 1923 Adolph
Hitler was arrested after try-
ing to take over the Bavarian
government, which resulted in
him writing Mein Kampf. They
toured the Dachau concentra-
tion camp and Neuschwanstein
Castle, the inspiration for Dis-
ney World.
They saw the site of the
1972 Summer Olympics, in-
cluding the memorial for the
Israel athletes who were killed
by Palestinian terrorists and
viewed art at one of the old-
est galleries in the world— Alte
Pinakothek.
“There’s certain things that
are historically, culturally im-
portant for the students to
see, things that they’ll connect
with, either they heard about
in history, they’ll hear about or
they’ll see these things later in
life,” Mangan said.
The McNary students that
went on the trip were Bomar,
Faatz, Seleste Barrera Ramirez,
Mariah Boyd, Keith Car-
doza, John Catron, Amy Cox,
Amanda Deckard, Emily Gar-
cia, Laura Gillespie, Mia Greer,
Grant Harms, Kayla Jones, Jania
Lopez, Luis Martinez-Reyes,
Juan Miguel Montejano, Si-
las Montgomery, Rose Nason,
Angel Olmos, Katherine Perez,
Isaiah Putnam, Gavin Robinett,
Alexandria Ronning, Veronia
Sarun, Joseph Seith, Levi Shel-
$
don, Jospeh Vasquez, Garrett
Wampler and Ethan Wheeler.
2 OFF
00
any box
of peaches
Jones Farm
PRODUCE
5 Miles North of Keizer — 10325 River Rd NE
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK
Growing Fresh Local Fruits and Veggies for Five Generations
HOURS: Mon – Fri: 9 to 7 • Sat – Sun: 9 to 5
Limit 3 boxes per customer/household. This coupon expires 9- 6-18.
Sam Goesch
Ins Agcy Inc
Sam Goesch CLU, Agent
3975 River Road North
Keizer, OR 97303
Bus: 503-393-6252
State Farm , Bloomington, IL
1211999