ABOVE: From left: Heather Embry, Noamie Boffa, Daniela Klipcus and Jason Embry. Boffa and Klipcus are foreign exchange students hosted by the Embrys.
FAIRMONT– This year Noamie Boffa and Daniela Klipcus, exchange students from Italy and Latvia respectively, have been attending Fairmont High School as juniors.
The pair have been staying in Wells with their host family, Heather and Jason Embry, since August. Heather has been hosting exchange students since she was a child.
“I started out when I was 9 with 4H and then it just evolved from there. … I’ve never not had exchange students so I never known how not to have (them),” said Heather.
This was the first time in several years the Embrys were able to host students. During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic students had to be sent home suddenly and ongoing uncertainties regarding international travel restrictions caused them to refrain from hosting last year.
While in the United States, the Embrys treat their international students similarly to their own children, inviting them to assist with farm work and experience as many aspects of American culture as possible. So far the pair have celebrated Halloween, a holiday that’s typically celebrated by much younger children in their home countries, and Thanksgiving, a holiday that isn’t widely observed outside of North America.
Both students come from larger cities in their home countries and were surprised by the change of pace and the sparser population of rural Minnesota.
“If you want to go to a place you need a car, and in our country we can walk everywhere. Here you … have to have a car or you can do nothing,” said Klipcus.
In addition to points of interest being further apart, in Martin County many public places such as parks can be less accessible and close earlier. More activities for students their age are centered around the high school whereas in Europe they could stay out later and would typically go to a variety of different social avenues.
However, while the different geography in the United States may be more restrictive, other aspects of culture are much less regimented. The students’ experience with school has been very different compared to their home countries. Compared to many European schools, American schools oftentimes use a more generalized curriculum with a larger selection of classes available at a single institution. In Europe both students would attend school for fewer days in a week and would work with fewer subjects in a day. Much of their learning was based in independent study and research whereas in the United States it involves more classroom instruction.
“Teachers here explain a lot better than in my country, because in my country if you want to know something you have to read the books. … I had biology for all my life but I never learned it because I never understood it. Here in three months I know about a lot of diseases, what is DNA, and what is everything in your body,” said Klipcus.
One new educational experience was a family and consumer science course where students experienced what it was like to be a parent by taking care of a robotic baby.
Sports are another area that are less specialized. In their home countries, students often choose a sport at a younger age in which they compete in throughout multiple school years. While hockey was largely unheard of to Boffa, she decided to join the Fairmont girls’ hockey team because she enjoyed skating.
Both students will stay in Minnesota until after the end of the school year. In the spring Boffa is considering participating in the cross-country team while Klipcus is considering volleyball.
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