HHS students interview foreign exchange
students to introduce them to community
FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Surasak Charnsethikul (Pek) - Thailand
By Melissa R. West
Students in Jeannie Collins' leadership class recently interviewed the foreign exchange students
that are enrolled for the 2007-2008 school year at Heppner High School in an effort to introduce
them to the community. -Photo by Autumn Morgan
Thanaphan
Sathitkhan (Aof) - Thailand
By Chris Nickerson
I am writing about
the foreign exchange stu­
dent Aof. But Aof isn't his
real name. His real name is
Thanaphan Sathitkhan and
he is from Bangkok, Thai­
land. He is 16 years old and
he is in the 10th grade.
In Thailand, Aof
goes to a private school
where the population of the
school is about 2,000.
When Aof is in Thai­
land he likes to spend his
free time hanging out with
his friends and playing vid­
eo games. He likes to play
ping pong with his friends.
He does like it in Heppner
but he would rather live in
a big city. At his school his
Aof Sathitkhan and Chris Hickerson
favorite sport is soccer.
Aof says he likes liv-
ing with the VanDoom's.
Aof has two broth-
ers. He started learning
English when he was in
elementary school. Aof also
knew' Mo and Pek before he
came over to America,
Akmaral Thleubergenova - Kazakhstan
By Melissa West
Akmaral Tleuber-
genova is a new sophomore
at Heppner High School.
She started school at the be­
ginning of January, but the
neat thing about her is that
she is an exchange student
and comes from a small
country called Kazakhstan.
Akmaral does not
play any sports; instead,
she spends that time playing
the piano. As a sophomore,
Akmaral already has a col­
lege degree, if she wanted to
go back to Kazakhstan, she
would be able to become a
piano teacher. However, this
is not what Akmaral wants.
Unsure now of what lies in
her future, Akmaral leaves
her options open.
A km aral enjoys
school here in America. Not
only is school easy for her,
considering she has done all
her high school studies as an
eighth grader, but instead of
staying in one classroom she
has the opportunity to move
from class to class. School
in Kazakhstan is probably
Akmaral Thleubergenova
more interesting though,
instead of eight subjects a
day like we have at Heppner
High School, they get 20
and they change everyday.
Students also go to school
six days a week instead of
four.
Even though this is
Akmaral’s first time as an
exchange student, she has no
problem fitting right in with
the rest of the students. Just
like the others she enjoys
all kinds of music as long
as it’s not opera. She says
that she became tired of it
while taking piano classes.
She also likes all sorts of
movies as long as they are
not drama.
Here the driving age
is 16, we vote at 18, and
begin drinking legally at the
age of 21. For Akmaral and
her friends they cannot do
any of it until they are 18,
and 1 thought Americans
teenagers had it bad. Like
the other exchange students,
Akmaral found the food
tasted different, but in both
countries, prices are about
the same.
The weather here
has been very cold lately
around eight below; howev­
er to Akmaral, eight below
is warm weather. To her this
would be a time to swim.
In Kazakhstan, weather is
mostly around 30 below.
Now that is cold.
Akmaral has one cat
as a pet, and is an only child.
This summer chances are her
parents will be able to come
to America and experience
just a small portion of what
America is really like.
Akmaral is staying
with Chuck and Katie Fos­
ter.
Nina
Schoener
-
Germany
By Tori Lankford
Nina Schoener is a
foreign exchange student
from Hamburg, Germany.
She transferred to Heppner
High School about a week
and a half ago.
I was asked to inter­
view her about her thoughts
and views of America in
comparison to Germany.
Nina is sixteen years old, a
sophomore, and her favorite
color is red. She lives with
Linda, Terry, and Conner
Corbin, who is a freshman
at our school.
This is Nina's first
time coming to America.
She enjoys the French fries
the most here. Nina speaks
a little bit of French, and
Spanish, and is fluent in
German and English.
School in Germany
is a little different than in
America. Students don't
Here in Heppner
High School, the leader­
ship class interviewed the
foreign exchange students.
1 interviewed one of the
exchange students from
Thailand, Surasak Charn­
sethikul, whose American
name is Pek.
Each student in the
leadership class picked an
exchange student and split.
Pek comes from a
big city, Bangkok. Bangkok
is the capital of Thailand.
Unlike Korea, people from
Thailand are the same age
in all countries. In Korea
they are two years older
than everywhere else as they
start aging even before they
are born. Pek is the oldest
exchange student in Hep­
pner at 17 and will be 18 on
April 2.
The exchange pro­
gram that he and the other
Thai students used was Face
The World. Pek said that
in order to become an ex­
change student the students
have to go through a series
of tests on learning to speak
English and others to see
what classes to be placed
in.
In Thailand the ex­
change students are allowed
only to come to America,
whereas in other countries
they are given the choice
as to what country to go to.
When asked how he likes
it in America, Pek said that
Pek Charnsethikul and Melissa West
it was nice but he could do
more things in Thailand.
Here in Heppner in order
to get to school the students
either drive themselves,
catch the bus or walk. In
Thailand Pek has to take
a taxi in order to get to
school. In Bangkok Pek says
they have a large shopping
mall where as here in Hep­
pner we have a small store.
Bangkok also has cheaper
prices, to go to the theater
it costs maybe two dollars
and here it costs $8.50. Pek’s
school has 6,000 students
in it. For the seniors alone,
40 students are placed in 18
classrooms.
Some of Pek’s fa­
vorite sports are tennis, bad
mitten, squash, and swim­
ming. When asked what
his exchange family is like
Pek replied that they were
friendly, nice and treat him
like he’s part of the family.
Pek views them as a second
family. Pek has an older sis­
Kim Dulyun (Kylie) - Korea
LA u
ter who is currently attend­
ing college in Thailand.
I asked Pek if there
was a difference in the food
between America and Thai­
land. He said that American
food was spicier, but he
was starting to like it. Even
though both countries have
a McDonalds, Pek says they
taste rather different. Here
a meal would cost roughly
$5 over there a meal would
cost maybe $2. Pek prefers
the McDonalds in Thailand
because the food is better
and cheaper. Pek’s favorite
music is pop, though if giv­
en no choice, he will listen
to whatever is playing. Like
other exchange students,
Pek likes fantasy, adventure,
and horror movies.
Unfortunately like
all other exchange students,
when school ends Pek has
to go home, and leaves June
10, 2008. Peck is currently
living with the Corbin fam­
ily.
By KayLee Helfrecht
Kim D ulyun, or
better known as Kylie at
Heppner High School, is
an exchange student from
Cheon An, Korea. Kylie is
staying with the VanDoom
family here in Heppner.
She is part of the “Face the
World" exchange program.
Kylie wanted to be an ex­
change student because she
wanted to come to America.
Kylie said that to become an
exchange student she had to
pay a lot of money.
In America Kylie is
16 years old but in Korea
she is 18. Kylie is 18 in
Korea because when they
are in the womb Koreans
consider children as being
a year old and when they
are bom they are considered
two years old.
While Kylie is in
America she would like to
go to Disneyland. Her fa­
vorite thing about America
is the stars in the night time,
because in Korea you can’t
see the stars at night be-
KayLee Helfrecht and Kylie Dulyun
cause the city lights in the
town cover them up. Her
favorite food is pizza and
her favorite drink is mocha
milkshakes. Kylie’s favorite
singer in America is Hannah
Montana, her favorite actor
is Brad Pit and her favorite
actress is Kira Knightly.
One of the big dif­
ferences about America
and Korea is the school. In
Korea they go to school late
at night, and here the kids
don’t go to school as long
as they do in Korea. The
teachers there are also a lot
stricter and the teachers can
also hit the students.
In Korea the clothes
Hee Young Chong - Korea
are very different to how
that casual American life­
styles here. They have to
wear a uniform to at school
and on the weekends they
have to dress in nice clothes.
On the weekends in Korea
Kylie likes to watch movies
and sing karaoke with her
friends. Kylie misses her
family, friends and Korean
food most. Kylie has one
younger sister.
Kylie has also visit­
ed Thailand and Philippines.
Kylie goes back home in
June but would like to come
back to America one day and
visit California and New
York.
By Nathan Van Cleave
Nina Schoener and Tori Lankford
move around to their class­
es, they stay in the same
room all day and have the
teachers come to them. They
don't have many electives
to choose from, only Span­
ish and biology. They also
only have one grade level
in each of their classes, and
for example they do not mix
grade levels such as ninth
and tenth graders.
In Germany, there
isn't as much transportation
as compared to America, for
example, we use cars more.
Most people walk or ride
their bicycles to school. Ten­
nis is not just a spring sport
in Germany; tennis is an all
round sport over there. One
of her favorite parts about
America is the nice and
helpful people.
Coming to America
for the first time is for most
people a new and excit­
ing experience. It certainly
has been for Heppner’s ex­
change students. Hee Young
Chong is one such student
and is from the Republic
of Korea. His home town,
Pusan, has approximately
3.65 million people.
He is a city boy,
however, and being in a
small town is a new ex­
perience. Hee Young has
definitely noticed a few dif­
ferences upon his arrival.
For instance, in Korea they
eat a lot of rice whereas here
in the U.S. we have a lot of
fast food. In school, instead
of moving from classroom
to classroom they stay in the
same place in the same seat
Hec Young and Nathan Van Cleave
during the entire school day.
In addition, they do not have
a gym in his school.
Hee Young is the
older of two boys in his
family. He enjoys playing
basketball and computer
games. At his school he is
a sophomore and says that
school is a little harder back
at home than here because
they require better grades to
graduate. After high school
he is required to join the
army for a minimum of one
and a half years. Once he is
out of the army he wants to
go to college and become a
doctor, a very difficult task
both here in the U.S. and in
Korea.
Hee Young is stay­
ing with John and Kathy
Marick.