Put-in-Bay Exchange Student Arrives
This school year, Put-Bay High School has an exchange student from Germany. She’s 15-year-old 10th grader Anna Stilla from across the Atlantic Sea in Cologne, Germany. Anna’s parents, Petra and Angelo, both professional people working in the banking business, encouraged Anna to attend school in the U.S. so she could improve her English which she has studied for the last five years.
Anna arrived in the United States in August, where she got a chance to tour New York City before coming to Put-in-Bay. Her guest family on the island is the Domer family consisting of the island postmaster, JR Domer, his wife Cathy, and daughter Molly whose birthday is only two weeks away from Anna’s.
Cathy initially wanted to be an exchange student and found the organization on the Internet Anna had applied to become an exchange student. Anna, a very, very petite and personable young lady with a great sense of humor, said she and her family looked up Put-in-Bay on the Internet before deciding to come to the island. At first, they didn’t know what to expect and were a bit concerned because of all the “party” sites and the amount of alcohol, but they soon found information about the more normal things in the community and realized there was more than just alcohol here.
Anna says, “I’m glad to be here and staying with an awesome family,” although she sometimes admits to missing her younger sister Lisa and home. One of the first things she did when she got to the island area was to take a trip to Cedar Point. When interviewed just before the Put-in-Bay ferry quit for the season, Anna was concerned about what winter life on the island would be like, but in the same breath, said she was looking forward to going out on the ice.
Exchange Student Sees American Schools Differ
Anna says school here in America is different than in Germany. Anna’s school in Germany has 2,500 students, so Put-in-Bay School is quite a change as an exchange student. Some subjects are more complicated, some are easier, and changing rooms for different classes is unlike schools in Germany, where students stay in the same room, and another teacher comes in to teach various subjects. Anna’s types this year include Spanish, U.S. History, Grammar/Speech, Math, Gym, English, and Biology, her favorites.
There are also no school-sanctioned sports in Germany. Parents pay to have their kids participate in sports at sports clubs. Anna is one of the Put-In-Bay Panther cheerleaders this season. Cheerleaders are not to be found in German schools. Anna’s English is excellent, but she says she’s having problems saying her “r’s.” When she first arrived here, she sometimes didn’t understand everything that was said.
She would nod and smile, pretending she understood, but her English had improved immensely just in the few short months she’s been here as an exchange student. She also tells us her Facebook page is all in English. That’s pretty good for a young lady studying French and Italian. Anna is not a stranger to foreign countries. She has traveled to Denmark, Italy, France, Turkey, Greece, England, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, and to the Dominican Republic with her parents on a two-week holiday.
After high school, Anna wants to attend University and study to be a lawyer or a psychologist. And, by the way, if you see
Anna, this month, I wish her a happy birthday. She turns 16 on the 28th of January.
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