Meet Alea Reiners from Germany
Learn about Alea Reiners, MHS’ exchange student from Germany. She talks about the many different aspects, positive and negative, of being an international exchange student.
Alea Reiners (’21) is one of our German exchange students here at Mead High School. She is from the north coast of Germany and was able to come do her schooling in the U.S. using the Culture Homestay International exchange student program. To apply to the program, Alea had to fill out an application and take an English test along with a quick English interview. “For me it was okay,” she said.
Alea came to MHS at the beginning of August and seems to be liking it quite a lot. For many, the most difficult part of being an exchange student is learning a brand new language. But for Alea, this wasn’t as much of a struggle. Alea has been learning the English language since she was in third grade.
She has always known that what she wanted to do was to come and study here in the U.S., so she was very ready and very prepared. Alea loves the painting, art, and ceramics classes here at Mead and participated in softball during the fall. She is now involved with western riding outside of school.
While Alea was coming to the U.S., she had some issues regarding her Visa. “I had a big problem with my Visa. It took me a long time to get it because they made some mistakes with it,” she said. Alea also mentioned that her first flight got canceled once she was accepted into the program.
One difference between her hometown in Germany and here in the U.S. is that you can select your specific classes. She also mentioned that in Germany, her high school had a 13th grade. Along with that, you stay in the same building from 5th grade to 13th grade.
For Alea, the most exciting part about coming to the U.S. was the fact that the school system was just so “different”. She saw many movies about high school here in the U.S. and was very interested in seeing how it “really [was]”. Of course, Alea misses her family and hometown a lot, along with the “German food”. She gets to contact her family regularly, and Alea said that when she met her host family, she felt “directly comfortable”.
After high school, Alea plans to go to a university, but she isn’t sure which one yet. She’s considering going abroad after high school.
Being an exchange student isn’t easy. People almost always get nervous before applying to their program of choice and then physically going to their new school. As incredible as her schooling is going and as much as she loves it, Alea does admit she came about these nerves before applying and coming to the U.S. She mentions her worries about slipping up with the English language and the possibility of her not getting along with her host family, but says she was very ready for this experience.
Overall, Alea really enjoys her time here at MHS and is very grateful for the opportunity to study here.
Where are they going?: Allison Welch
Welcome to The Mav’s Senior Tradition where we highlight our current seniors and discuss where they are headed
Allison enjoys watching documentaries about history, different cultures, and discovering artifacts.
Allison Welch (‘23) plans to attend Utah State after graduation. As of now, she has yet to decide what she wants to study, she’s still deciding between fine arts (specifically musical theater) or archeology. Allison mentioned that should she decide to study archeology, she hopes to work in a museum.
Allison enjoyed being involved at Mead. Her favorite memories include football and basketball games as well as her times with the theater department. She said she’ll always be grateful for “meeting new people and being involved in musical theater”.
Allison is involved in school in many different ways, from tennis to musical theater. She said musical theater had a big impact on her journey of high school. She has been doing theater for over ten years, and she shared “it’s been a big part of my life”.
Allison said she changed a lot since freshman year; “[my] personality and the way that I dress. [Something I used to do] was get up at 4:30 everyday to do a full face of makeup. Now I get up 10 minutes before I leave.”
Allison said COVID-19 was when she was most challenged academically. “It was difficult because everything was shut down and classes were really hard, especially staying on top of things [at home],” she commented.
During Allison’s time at MHS she has made connections with a few teachers. Teachers who have had the biggest impact on her have been choir instructor Ms. Rikelle Berry and English teacher Ms. Jamie Hedlun. She said Ms. Berry has always had really powerful conversations with her while still keeping a professional relationship. Ms. Hedlun helped Allison during challenging times during the pandemic.
When considering advice to share with the Class of 2024, Allison suggests seniors take their last year seriously. Sometimes “doing the minimum is okay, but don’t let it go too far”.
This is a whole new chapter for Allison, and we are confident she will do well in whatever path she takes.
Chiara Puccia is a Junior. She is an exchange student who enjoys reading, traveling, being in nature and playing sports. She is involved with theater and the dance team. She is looking forward to improving her English skills this year.