Special bonds form in Mount Pulaski and Spain student exchange here in the U.S.
Part 4: A very emotional farewell dinner

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[October 26, 2016]  MOUNT PULASKI - Finally, on September 28, 2016, the Spaniards got together with their American families for a potluck at the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church basement and what an emotional evening that turned out to be. Grunder agreed, “It was an emotional evening, and one I won't forget anytime soon.

“My students, the Spaniards, and Ana and Isa - for everyone to be so available and vulnerable in a public setting like that, something most grown-ups wouldn't even be willing to do. As I've said before, my students impress me.”

The evening included a delicious meal and fellowship that indeed created a lifetime of memories, just like this entire experience. The word that came up the most that evening among the parents was “perfect.” This whole experience was perfect. Nothing went wrong.

In fact, the evening kicked off with a speech by Ana and as Grunder put it, “Her words were perfect, just like the evening together.”

Here now is the speech that Ana has graciously allowed to be reprinted:


I really don’t know how to start and how to explain with the correct words how thankful and grateful we all are for all these wonderful days that we have shared with all of you.

It seems like yesterday when we arrived in Mount Pulaski, and we greeted each other, and now, it is almost time to go.

On behalf of our School Board, we thank Mr. Morgan and all the School staff members for having given us the opportunity to start this exchange program. Thank you for your support.

In the world that we are living nowadays, where there is hate, and fights, it is wonderful to see that power of love and peace always win. These exchanges allow an understanding and encourage the mutual respect that allows us to appreciate and value other people and other countries.

Rachel, Eric, and Marty, there are not enough words to express our gratitude. Thank you so much for having hosted us.

Rachel, thank you for an outstanding and wonderful program that will last in their hearts and our memories forever. Thank you for having shared with us your time, your talent and also your money.

Rachel and Eric, both of you are “saints” for me and may God bless you for all what you do. I pray that my new American family continues this program and that we will continue this exchanges in the future because love and friendship in the family never die.

THANK YOU, Rachel, Eric, Ben, and Adam.

To the parents; thank you so much for all that you have done for our students. Thank you for having taken them to so many beautiful places of your country, giving them the most precious memories that they will keep for their entire lives.

Also thank you for having supported Rachel, the school, and the program. Thank you for having given my students a safe and comfortable place to live. Thank you for having been so generous and kind and having shared your lives with our students.

We hope you have enjoyed this part of the program and we will try our best to correspond at least with the same kindness and love as you have given us. And we hope that this program will continue for many years.

A special thank you to Gene, for having done such an amazing job; taking us everywhere, always with a smile on your face.

Thank you to the parents who have chaperoned us in the field trips, Family Hayes for having organized such wonderful, cozy and heartwarming welcome party and to you all for having organized this farewell party.

We would like to finish this evening with a happy ending. Our students have prepared a small dance that we would like to show you.

Once again, ¡muchas gracias! And may God bless you all.”

 

 

Ana spoke these words eloquently before the dinner.

Mount Pulaski students share their feelings and their experience

After everyone had finished the meal, the Mount Pulaski High School students took turns one by one, standing in front of the crowd, expressing their thoughts and feelings about the experience. While some students had prepared speeches ahead of time, others had not.

Regardless of the preparation, each and every student spoke from the heart.

The following quotes are from the Mount Pulaski High School students, in the order that they spoke, that memorable evening:

Jaden Elliott, “This has been one of the most amazing experiences I have ever done. I’ve met a great friend who I will have for a long time. And I love this. I am so thankful for it.”

Peyton Taylor, “This was a lot of fun. I can’t wait to go to Spain. We learned a lot about their culture and how we are different from them. How they do things differently. We may laugh at them for some of the things they do, but when we go to Spain, it’s going to be just as bad. I can’t wait to go to Spain.”

Skylar Hayes, “Okay, first of all, I want to thank Ana, Isa and Mrs. Grunder for making this possible. I appreciate all the work you put into it. I’m SO grateful. I can’t imagine how hard it was to do this, but I am very thankful.

"Second of all, these past three weeks have been the best three weeks of my life. I’m very blessed to be a part of this family that we made. (Here come the tears) You guys are awesome. The memories that we made, the experiences that we shared, I will never forget. I’ll remember it forever. You guys at the volleyball games ROCKED! Best fans ever!

"I can’t wait to see you next summer. I love you guys with all my heart.” (Now hugs with Karla and more tears)

 

Isabella Wade, “There is so much to say and not enough time to say it. I would like to start that this has been one of the best experiences ever. I never knew how much a different language could be so difficult to understand at one point and so much fun to be surrounded by, all at once.

"There have been so many times that have been so exciting that you just stop and you’re just laughing because everything going on is just overwhelming and so exciting. I am so excited to make so many more memories with all of you in the future. This is not our last time together. And I am hoping that you all had as much fun as I did during this experience.”

Olivia Letterle, “First off, I want to thank Senora Grunder and Ana and Isa for making all of this possible. I wouldn’t have been able to meet someone as great as she (Miren) is and I want to say thank you to you, (Miren). Because without you here, I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate a lot of things that we do as a culture. And be able to see your culture as well, has just been amazing and having you here has been a part of my life that I can’t forget.”

[to top of second column]

Fikirte Mott, “I’m very grateful that you guys traveled all this way to be a part of our lives and Ana and Isa, thank you very much for teaching them to speak English. I hope you guys come back soon. I enjoyed meeting all the students. They were all really fun to be around. And.....”(Tears and hugs here, too)

Faith Doerr, “Well, it was a few months ago where I had to do this in Costa Rica, and I’m gonna try not to bawl this time.

"First of all, I want to thank everybody for being here today. These are the bittersweet moments of this type of an experience. I actually prepared something to say. I just wanted to say I am going to miss all of you so much. The teachers, all the other Spaniards, you really brought a different culture to MPHS. Like our school really doesn’t know much other than what we do and you guys just kind of immersed our school in culture and we’re so thankful for that. (tears are starting)

"I was hosting Nuria and she has been an awesome person to live with for the past three weeks. Between following me and my crazy life around, she managed to eat four packages of Oreos. (lots of laughs) Wait - breakfast, lunch, and supper - every meal. Despite her outstanding appetite, she has an amazing heart, and I love her so much. I am so lucky to be blessed with this experience. Thank you for being tired with me all the time, and I can’t wait until I get to come to Spain.”

Alyssa Stauffer, “Okay, this experience has been crazy and full of different emotions, but I’m so glad I got to be a part of it. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next.

"Thank you so much, Ana and Isa, for bringing all of these wonderful students to our school and experiencing our crazy lives.”

Sebastian Scassiferro, “First of all, I’d like to thank not only Ana and Isa but also Senora Grunder, for making this happen. I know it must have been hectic and stressful and I will never understand how it is unless I myself organized a student exchange. But thank you very much for getting this to happen.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say that this doesn’t only create 'family' in our own families, and in this exchange group, but all throughout the school. Students who weren’t involved in this exchange were happy, they loved talking to the Spaniards, it really was great for not only us but the school.

"For me, myself, I was; I don’t really like to say forced, but forced to talk to people that I normally wouldn’t talk to, and it was nice. I feel like I built relationships with people I normally wouldn’t have, and it was just a great experience.

"I had an awesome time with Jakub. He was the best partner I could ever ask for.”

Abby Howard, “First I would like to thank Ana, Isa and Senora Grunder for giving each of us this unique opportunity and making sure everything was perfect. And for being patient with us when it was very difficult.

"I have to thank every one of you here for becoming such great friends with us and for trying your best to speak the best English you could. You all did such wonderful jobs.

"Thank you for acting like it doesn’t bother you to wear purple and gold...at least three times a week. (a big round of laughter here) Thank you for cheering on our sports teams, very well, like they were yours and thank you for being some of the best friends we could have asked for. We’re so thankful to have gotten to share these experiences with you, and we can’t wait to see you next summer.”

Here is where Sebastian Scassiferro blurted out, “And no one asked where the bathrooms were this time!” Grunder hollered out from across the room, “I love it!” The crowd that got the inside joke laughed loudly. Apparently, that question was asked one too many times on the Costa Rican exchange over the summer.

Emily Siebert, “Thank you, everyone, for making this possible, including the parents, who have been driving us around most of the time.

"This has just been so incredible, and it taught me that I have a lot of Spanish to learn and that it’s important to just roll with it, ‘cause you’ll have a lot more fun.”

Madeline Moody, “I love you.” Madeline said this to her Spaniard, Cristina, and immediately began crying and she couldn’t say another word.

Grunder said, “That’s all you need to say.” The two girls then just cried and hugged at the front of the room.

Emma Schoth, “Well, as some of you know, I am a procrastinator. Everyone knows that.  This prompted a lot of teasing from the crowd about just writing a speech during the dinner.

Schoth continued, “But as Senora knows, it always works out. Okay, this exchange has been a very different experience. It has - I’ll just read what this says.

"Over the course of these three weeks I have gained new friendships that I hope will last a lifetime. I also learned a lot. I got to see Illinois through a fresh set of eyes that showed me how much I take for granted, like playing games in PE. Just the way everything looks and the way we do things. I learned how difficult the language barrier is but we worked through it.”

Abbey Phillips, “These three weeks have been crazy. Like we were doing stuff left and right, being everywhere, but it was good.

"We learned a lot about not only the Spaniards but each other. I talked to a lot of people these three weeks that I usually don’t. But it was really weird like at the games and just like school, seeing how differently we do things and how they look at things.

"This whole thing was really neat and different, and it’s something I’m really glad I am a part of, even though I’m not going to Spain. But it was like, I am going to be so sad that I’m not going to see any of you again. (a male voice whispered in the crowd, “That may not be true.”) I might see you again someday, but I will miss you so much.”

Corey Beccue, “Okay, so I let you guys do all the background work for all of this. But I would like to thank Joe Scanavino for giving us the chance to do this. (“Yes....yes...yes” was heard from Grunder followed by applause) That’s it.”

[Teena Lowery]

 

 

 

 

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