Caroline Lovett
Features Editor

During September of every school year, a few students join Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. With enrollment to Northern Hill Bilingual School in Mar Del Plata, Argentina, Argentine students are granted the opportunity to become international exchange students in North Carolina schools for a month. The students are each paired with a host family and spend their time attending school, sports practices, athletic games, and extracurricular activities with their host. It can be a huge change, but also an exciting opportunity to enter a new environment.

“You have to be excited to come here,” Salvador Gerardo, who is staying with R.J. Reynolds High School junior James Edmundson, said. “If you’re not [excited], you’re not going to have a great time. You have to accept the challenge of coming here.” 

Each student has different motivations to come on the exchange. Most students however hope to gain a better understanding of life in the United States (U.S.)

 “I wanted to come here for the experience,” Isa Ranalletta, who is staying with Senior Charlotte Hubbard, said. “To know more about the culture and things like that, to go shopping and practice my English.” 

Before coming to the U.S, there is an application process. Students at Northern Hills Bilingual School attend an interest meeting about coming on the exchange. The students receive an explanation about what will take place on their exchange. They complete paperwork, are matched with a family, and explain what their travel experience will be like.

“It’s easy to become an exchange student,” Ranalletta said. “They asked us who wanted to come, we did some interviews, and that’s it.” 

Once they arrive in the U.S., differences are not only found in the language, but in many elements of the culture. 

“Here, the routine is different,” Angelo Pennisi, who is staying with junior Finn Hosey, said. “ In Argentina, we go to sleep at eleven or twelve all the days, and here it is so normal to have dinner at six. In Argentina, we take dinner at nine. The routine here is shocking.” 

In their time here, the exchange students have had many new experiences. Some students have been to RJR sporting events, campus tours at local colleges, and out to dinner to classic Winston-Salem restaurants. 

“My favorite thing has been going to the football game,” Teodelina Gatti, who is staying with senior Sophie Johnson, said, “the Wake Forest one.” 

As the students’ time here comes to an end, they will be missed by the RJR community, and many of them will miss Reynolds as well. 

“I’ll miss Charlotte the most,” Ranalletta said. “All the girls here.”

The exchange program allows students to build lifelong connections, connections that breach the traditional barriers of language and culture. This yearly tradition at RJR is one that will hopefully continue for many more generations of students.