2018-2019 Inbound Exchange Students

2018-2019 Exchange Students
 
Our inbound exchange student for 2018-2019 arrived in mid August.
 
On Friday Sept 7, our two inbound exchange students, Andrzej Swietek (Andrew) from Poland and Joao Guilherme Tonet-Oldoni (John) from Brazil, were introduced to the teachers at Tunkhannock Area High School at a breakfast meeting, with Rotarians Anne Sehne and Ann Way making the introductions and Tunkhannock Rotarians providing donuts for the teachers.
 
At the Sept 13 Rotary Meeting at Purkey's Pink Apple, the club heard from the 2 inbound exchange students about the classes they are taking at Tunkhannock Area High School.
 
Andrew is from Poland. He likes his classes here including: AP physics, calculus, robotics, graphics and electronics. He will also be playing soccer.
 
John is from Brazil and 17 years old. He is taking classes in: graphics, 3D printing, computer and electronic devices. 
 

Andrew from Poland (top) and John from Brazil
 
At the Feb 14 Rotary Luncheon, the Club had the first opportunity to meet our newest inbound exchange student Lol-Enrique (Kike) Caro Paredes, from Peru.  Kike left Lima Peru on Monday but due to delays and transits through Atlanta and Philly on his way to Scranton, he arrived on Wed. Feb 13. He along with exchange student Andrew from Poland are staying with the Kozloski host family.  Kike will be staying in Tunkhannock until Dec 2019. since his exchange year did not begin until Feb.
 

Lol-Enrique (Kike) Caro Paredes inbound student from Peru
 
End of Exchange Year Presentations
Joao and Andrzej
 
At the end of their exchange time, each student is asked to give a presentation on their home county, as well as, on their experiences during their exchange. The club had the pleasure of hearing from Joao on May 23 and from Andrzej on June 6.
 
Joao and Andrzej have been living in Tunkhannock since Aug 2018 and attending Tunkhannock Area High School (TAHS) where in addition to their academic pursuits, they played on various Tigers sport’s teams and participated in many extra-curricular activities. They have learned about American culture while teaching Rotary members and fellow students about theirs. Joao and Andrzej are wrapping up their senior years and recently shared their most significant exchange experiences in presentations to Rotary.
 
Joao “John” Guilherme Tonet Oldoni, is 18 years old and was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Herval D’Oeste in Rotary District 4740. He is the 12th exchange student that Tunkhannock has hosted from Brazil.
 
He is from Agua Doce (Sweetwater) Brazil, which is the 5th biggest city in the south of Brazil. His area uses windmills for power generation. His city is big on wine production and their vines have won awards worldwide. In Brazil, he plays bocce ball for his school and state teams and was recently awarded a state bocce ball scholarship.
 
Joao’s first 2 weeks were spent at Exchange Student Coordinator Anne Sehne’s house since his English was not so good and her son Stefan, who had himself done an exchange year in Brazil, helped him. At TAHS, he has taken classes in graphics, 3D printing, computer and electronic devices.  He is a soccer player and would love to play soccer at the Wilkes-Barre campus of Penn State.
 
Andrzej Swietek is 18 years old and Tunkhannock’s 2nd exchange student from Poland. He is from Cracow Poland and has a passion for IT and would like to be a programmer. His dream is to study at MIT, which he got to visit during his time in the US with his host family when they visited Boston.
 
At TAHS, he has been an asset to the soccer and wrestling teams. As part of the TASD Robotics Club, he wrote the code for their robot, giving it “a soul”.  He enjoyed AP calculus, electronics (he got to work on a Tesla cell), graphics and physics among his other courses.
 
Andrzej also has a talent for cooking and he made traditional Polish pierogi for his hosts to enjoy. Reports were that they were delicious.
 
During their time in NEPA, the exchange students went on a variety of educational and fun trips including: a Taco Festival in New Jersey, Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell, the Rocky statue and the Eastern State Penitentiary Haunted House and the State Capitol in Harrisburg where they learned how our legislature works. They also went to NYC around Christmas where they visited the Twin Tower Memorial, Central Park and got to experience the subway. They also participated in a Dickens Christmas in Wellsboro. In the Spring, all the exchange students in Northeastern PA visited Washington DC to see the many historic sights and museums.
 
At the June 6 Rotary Meeting, Pres. Mike Markovitz presented Joao and Andrzej with a Tunkhannock Rotary Banner and a book on Pennsylvania signed by members of the Club as a memory of their time in Tunkhannock.
 

L to R: Joao and Andrzej receiving their banners and books from Pres. Mike Markovitz