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“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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