Camas High School (CHS) had the opportunity to host foreign exchange students from various countries during the 2024-2025 school year.
Although some students returned home early, many are staying until the end of the year. All of these remaining exchange students shared many highlights from their time in the US. One common highlight was CHS sports.
“I did bowling for the first time and I made JV which was really fun. I did unified basketball and unified soccer. Most of my highlights are sports because I didn’t really get much sport experience back home,” Pakistani sophomore Sana Lodhi said.
“My soccer season was really fun. We went on a field trip up to Seattle and we had a lot of fun,” French junior Robin Charent said.
“All the sports were really fun. We don’t have sports at school in Spain so it was just really fun,” Spanish junior Aroa Fernandez Delgado said.
Outside of sports, students also enjoyed sharing about their culture.
“I really like when people ask about my country and the culture. Sometimes people have really strong stereotypes and it makes me happy when people tell me them so that I can correct them,” Turkish sophomore Zeynep Yuksel said.
Overall, the students all agreed that they had an enjoyable experience at CHS. However, not all their expectations matched reality.
“I’ve seen a lot of American movies, including the high school ones. It’s definitely good. I like the school spirit but my expectations were much higher just because of the movies,” Yuksel said.
As students are preparing to return to their home country, they are battling the bittersweet feelings that come with it.
“I am happy to go back to my life in France and see my family, but I also enjoy my life here, so it will be sad,” Charent said.
Along with this, the students are also reflecting on many lessons learned during their time at CHS.
“I think I learned that everyone has their friend groups, so you need to be the first one to approach instead of waiting for others to approach you,” Lodhi said.
As their return home gets closer, Sean Tamura, CHS Foreign Exchange student coordinator, shared words of advice for the students’ transfer back home.
“My best advice would just be to reflect as best they can on their time spent here,” Tamura said. “We often have some students that enjoy it so much they end up looking into actually trying to attend a university or a college in the US.”
This year has proved to be a successful and smooth year for the CHS foreign exchange students and has given the students endless memories and unique experiences.
