2018-2019 Foreign Exchange Students
October 02, 2018
Bennet
Bennet Rippel is a German foreign exchange student attending Southern as a sophomore. He is living with the Hookstra family. Bennet arrived in Wymore right before school started and has been adjusting to small town life. The German city where he is from has a population around 18,400, so Wymore is much smaller than what he was accustomed too. In Bennet’s family home lives his father, mother, and older brother named Timo. They have one pet cat named Smoky. His mom is a supportive teacher/para and helps teach English classes. His Dad is the boss of Ferchau Engineering and helps design car parts. Bennet’s desire to become a foreign exchange student began about four years ago when he started learning about the United States. He watched American football, and videos about the U.S which interested him. One older friend had visited and talked about how great it was here. In Germany, students can’t participate in school sports, because the schools do not provide these activities. Bennet enjoyed playing club American football there, and he is now participating on Southern’s high school football team. He has learned that his favorite American food is BLT’s.
Bella
Somin Im (Bella) is from Seoul, South Korea. Being the capital, the population is 9.86 million. Bella has seemed to be adapting very well to the small town life of Wymore. Bella is currently living with the Singleton family outside of town. She has one older brother. Her mom is a real-estate agent and her father works for a chemical company. It is uncommon for females to play sports in her country, but Bella is considering joining the track team in the Spring. She is the current student manager of the high school volleyball team. She wanted to come to America because she wanted to learn more English and about our culture. None of her friends or family have been here before. She wishes she could stay forever. Bella has learned that her favorite American food are cheeseburgers.