Exchange students reflect on year in Starkville
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Rotary Club Exchange Students are wrapping up their year-long program in Stark Vegas.
Giorgia Ruggirello from Sicily, Italy first came to the city in July.
“It was a fun experience,” said Giorgia.
She says it’s been a dream of hers to do an exchange program since she was young.
After Giorgia and her parents looked at different programs, they landed on Rotary’s.
“A friend told us about the Rotary Exchange Program, and we started talking with Rotarians back in Italy, and we decide to do the exchange program with Rotary because it seemed like better for us, for me,” said Giorgia.
Stelios Bouzikos from Cologne, Germany also was an exchange student this year through Rotary.
Both Stelios and Giorgia attended Starkville High as juniors this school year.
“I was able to meet a lot of people and learned from a lot of people and I met some friends,” said Stelios.
Giorgia said it took while to adjust to a new country in the beginning, but that the journey was worth it.
Some of those challenges included language barriers and building friendships.
“The type of friendships (here) are really different, so at first it was kind of hard, so I didn’t really love it, but now, I made a lot of friends, and it’s going to be really sad to go back, I’m really sad,” said Giorgia.
Giorgia and Stelios stayed with two host families each during the year.
They said their farewells at their last Rotary meeting on Monday, which they would attend weekly.
“This is a life-changing experience for the students that come here but also for the families that host them,” said Dr. Nancy Hargrove, the Rotary Counselor for Exchange Students.
Giorgia and Stelios are set to leave the country in July.
The students were gifted hand-painted cowbells at the Rotary meeting.
They also received certificates along with other students for completing the “Oktibbeha Young Leaders” program.
If you are interested in becoming a host family, you can contact the Starkville Rotary Club.
