![\"International](\"https:\/\/lamesacourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Lily-Aw-and-Michel-Osinski-visit-the-Museum-2013-JPG.jpg\")
<\/a>Each spring semester, GHS students sold AFS bond for 25 cents to be able to invite three AFS students \u201cto live with us at Grossmont next year.\u201d In 1969, the fundraising goal was $2,550. In the museum collection, we have large paintings of many of the AFS students who visited Grossmont as members of the senior classes from 1962-1974.<\/p>\n
In 2013, Lily Aw from Malaysia and Michel Osinski from Belgium visited the museum during a 40th reunion of 1973 AFS San Diego students. They were excited to see the AFS bronze plaque and Friendship Tree planted in November 1963 to honor the AFS Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat year in my life when I was an AFS exchange student has remained among my most cherished memories,\u201d shared Aw, who is now a doctor in Singapore.<\/p>\n
While at GHS, international students stayed with a Foothiller family. Many of them formed a lifelong bond with their host families.<\/p>\n
Jody Baumgaertel Catlin, Class of 1964, remembers what life was like living with another family.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince my dad’s military orders sent him to the Pentagon, the rest of my family moved to Virginia, and as ASB President, I remained in San Diego. I lived with Ruth and Mel Anderson and their son Skip, along with Ramesh Sawheny, our Grossmont exchange student from India,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a delightful adventure, sharing many Grossmont activities with my new \u2018brothers,\u2019 savoring Ramesh’s cooking of yummy lentil soups, and creating for me an enduring love of Indian food. After decades, Ramesh and I reconnected and I got to meet his lovely wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also, as an important part of the AFS program, GHS students participated in the Americans Abroad program. Jim Zumwalt, Class of 1974, spent a year in Yokahama, Japan.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy AFS experience was life-changing for me,\u201d he said. \u201cLiving with a Japanese family for a year and attending a Japanese school exposed me to a new culture and forced me to rethink my life goals. One result was that I vowed to continue learning more about Japan and Asia. I majored in Japanese Language at UC Berkeley and later joined the Foreign Service of the U.S. State Department where I served for 36 years as an American diplomat. Retired now, I work for a nonprofit foundation in Washington, D.C. dedicated to promoting strong U.S.-Japan relations.\u201d<\/p>\n
This school year, German exchange student Nathalie Mock is attending Grossmont. She is 16 and from Berlin and sponsored by the Forte International Exchange Association.<\/p>\n \u201cI decided to come to the U.S. mainly to improve my language skills and to learn about the culture,\u201d Mock said. \u201cMy image of America was drawn from movies and TV series. I wanted to experience how my life in Germany was different and how it was similar. I realized that it is way different from what I expected. I thought there would be more fast food and unhealthy snacks, but rather there is the delicious Mexican food I have learned to love.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the other hand, one thing that turned out to be as fascinating as it seems on TV is the large number of school sports like football, water polo, or tennis, which we don\u2019t have in Germany,\u201d she continued. Mock played on the GHS girl\u2019s tennis team this year.<\/p>\n \u201cGrossmont High School is extremely special to me because of the many great people I have met and the awesome school spirit everyone has,\u201d she added. \u201cThe never-ending motivation of teachers and students makes daily class delightful.\u201d<\/p>\n For decades, exposure to international cultures has had a positive impact on Foothillers. Once we know a person, the differences of culture vanish as we connect through our humanity.<\/p>\n Visit the museum March 7, noon\u20133:30 p.m. to learn more about the second-oldest high school in East County. For more information, visit foothillermuseum.com<\/a>; llame al 619-668-6140; o correo electr\u00f3nico ghsmuseum@guhsd.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Connie y Lynn Baer escriben en nombre del Museo de la Escuela Secundaria Grossmont.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By\u00a0Connie and\u00a0Lynn\u00a0Baer Welcoming international students to Grossmont High School (GHS) has been a tradition at Grossmont, creating life-altering experiences and lifelong friendships.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":224917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11548","_seopress_titles_title":"International programs foster friendships","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-la-mesa-courier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>