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International students blending in at St. Joseph High School

Enjoying the Canadian high school experience in Red Deer
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Ana Weber, of Brazil, and Nik Zanoner, of Italy, joined classes at St. Joseph High School in September. (Photo by Susan Zielinski/Advocate staff)

Joining the school volleyball team and food studies class are some of the highlights so far for a couple international students at St. Joseph High School.

About 20 of Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools’ 43 international students are enrolled in classes at the Red Deer high school.

Grade 11 student Ana Weber, of Brazil, said joining a school volleyball team is something she can’t do back home.

“In Brazil we don’t have that custom. We don’t have teams at the school so it was really awesome to play on the team. With the girls, I made a lot of friendships,” Weber said.

She said it’s been a great opportunity to improve her game.

Grade 12 student Nik Zanoner, of Italy, said he plans to join the school ski club. In the meantime he’s enjoying food studies.

“I love to cook because I’m Italian,” Zanoner said.

He also plans to play soccer at St. Joseph, another Italian tradition.

“Now I’m sad because we’re out of the World Cup. A World Cup without Italy is not a World Cup.”

Melanie Roth, a St. Joseph counsellor, said international students are a tight-knit group, but they also fit in well with the school’s multicultural student population.

“They’ve actually brought knowledge to our school community in terms of their culture, their English ability,” Roth said.

“I’ve seen huge improvements both socially, emotionally and academically. And they’re learning how to be self-advocates for themselves in a new country.”

Paul Stewart, program director at the Catholic school jurisdiction, said the number of international students climbed this year.

“Japan came in and brought our numbers up. Japan is a growing market for us. We also have four students from Europe and that’s new,” Stewart said.

He said the program could grow a bit more, but it shouldn’t get too big.

“The way we have it now it’s a good cultural experience for those students, and it’s a great experience in our schools to have students of different cultures who then share their lifestyle experiences with our Canadian students.”

He said most students come for one semester or a year to get an English language learning experience, and a Canadian cultural experience.

Their next field trip is to the Alberta Legislature and West Edmonton Mall.



szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com

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