Todd and Sarah Phelps welcomed 16-year-old German exchange student Sara Latiegue into their home on August 3, and ever since, she has been enjoying meeting new people and learning a new culture. She has joined the junior class at AHS and will be growing and learning with them until the end of the school year.
In Germany, Sara lives with her mom, dad and a younger brother. Her parents are originally from Venezuela, but moved to Germany in 1999. Her father was an exchange student himself when he was Sara’s age.
“My father encouraged and helped me to also become one,” she said. “We know a lot of other former exchange students who had different, positive experiences. I am also very interested in American culture and wanted to experience it myself. We were told that it was very probable that I would be in a rural area, and I am glad I’m here.”
Sara said that attending school in America is very different than in Germany, where they don’t get to choose their classes. Students there have 16 set subjects that are assigned to the class based on the teacher’s schedule, and in her German school, they also don’t work with computers as much as here. She also mentioned tht they don’t have to have something like the Pledge of Allegiance. So far, her favorite sujects at AHS are history, earth science, and band. She has joined the volleyball. team and is interested in one acts.
With the Phelps family, she has already visited multiple museums, and took in the Sandhills Open Road Challenge, where she met a lot of people.
“Arnold is a wonderful community, and I love how tight-knit it is” said Sara. “Everyone is really nice and welcoming. The school is definitely different, and I have to get used to it, but the students are all super nice and helped me a lot. Everyone in volleyball is really supportive.”
