Esha Ahmed, from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, last month completed her academic year as a foreign exchange student at Wayland High School. Shown here with her “American father,” Tim VanHouten, she was the second Islamic student in two years to spend their time in Wayland. Olha Shenkarenko, from the European country of Ukraine, was here a year ago. Host families, fellow students and teachers, and the visitors themselves all reported the experiences worthwhile. Esha was a even a townbroadcast.com “friend” on Facebook.
When I was a teenager in Wayne, NJ, many foreign exchange students were hosted at both of our high schools. Every one of those experiences provided a much-needed counterpoint to the rampant anti-Semitism of our local government, and, as students, we benefited the most from these friendships. In Wayland, where I never saw blatant evidence of bigotry, I imagine the presence of such foreign exchange students offered the same enlightenment and mind-broadening that I knew in the sixties.
Will it be possible to get an occasional update on Esha and Olha? It would be interesting to hear how their lives are continuing. The Foreign Exchange program has been around for decades. I’m pretty sure anyone who interacted with these students found it to be a good experience. Have there been any recent Wayland students going abroad for the exchange?