Octorara Area High School - Venture Yearbook (Atglen, PA)

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df-4456 John Glbson was one of the fortunate Octorara students selected by AFS to study abroad Slnce he would be hvrng rn Ronde, Den mark he was tutored ln Danlsh by Mr N115 Jensen He departed fromMontreal, Canada on July 27 and arrlved at the farm of h1s foster parents on August 8 On the way, John passed through Eng land Holland, and Germany John's foster parents, Mr andMrs Lemomus, had a wonderful sense of humor and the famrly was much l1ke hrs own There were Per, who attended school w1t.h John, a teen age slster, Karm, and Mo gens, a sergeant ln the Danlsh army Thexr thrrty f1ve acre farm was well cared for, and located 1n a hxlly section very 11ke John's own home There were about 150 P1gS, f1V9 m1lk1ng cows, and several calves However, John and Per d1d not have to do any farm work after school Dxnners consisted of meats, usually pork or bacon, and lots of pota toes Eggs are rare slnce chrckens are scarce, and not muchbeef IS used Tea was served each afternoon after school John became very fond of the delrclous, tancy pastrles which, surprlsmgly, were quite lnexpensrve In fact John's food blll forathree week stay ID Copenhagen was only 130 kroner Q 20 AIXICIICBDJ The school that John attended was called Aarhus Katerdralskole Per, John, Karin, Mothefy F9-ther, and M0855 Next year lt w1ll celebrate its 900th anniversary Although the school was very dlfferent from Octorara, lt was modern and had very good teacners John found the students help ful and frxendly Hrs school day began at 8 00 A M and ended at 2 00 P M Saturday classes were over at l 00 P M ACIIVIIICS and sports are not stressed because Danlsh puprls are encouraged to learn not to soc1al1ze The student govemment did nothlng but sponsor one dance durlng the course of a year John took courses IH mathema tlcs, French, physlcs, Englrsh gym, rellglon, geography, sxngmg, and hlstory All the AFS students ID Denmark spent three weeks ln Copenhagen takrng language lnstructlon John stayed at a youth hostel, and he found plenty of tlme to tour the c1ty He v1s1ted T1VOll Gardens, a park where there are theaters, concerts, and numerous other attractxons, and where the adnusslon prrce 15 fourteen cents The muslc there 1S world famous, and John found the food palatable Several anc1ent churches were on hxs rtlnerary but John attendedservlces at the Amencan Embassy where Englxsh was spoken He also saw Chrrstranborg Palace, where the Natlonal Assembly meets, the Town Hall Kronborg Hamlet's castle, Fredncksborg Castle, the Wxvex Restaurant, the most expenslve 1n Copenhagen and the home of the royal fannly, Amallenborg Castle Vlews of the farm and the house John spent one three day holrday drlvlng the tractor at the farm durlng the harvestmg ofthe beets, wluch they feed to the ammals OnSeptember 12 all the nearby farmers got together for therr an nual Harvest Festrval On another occ aslon the whole fam1ly drove to Ebeltoft, a typrcal town of the Mlddle Ages, accordrng to John It had narrow, w1nd1ng, cobblestone streets In January, Mr and Mrs Lemomus accompamed John to the pxer at Aarhus where he began hrs homeward Journey. He crossed the Atlantxc aboard the S.S. SEVEN SEAS wrththe other forergn ex change students, and arnved 1nNew York on the morn1ngofJanu ary 25. John feels that to know the people of any country one must lxve wlth them and partrcrpate rn then' actrvrtres. Thrs w1l1 lead to better understandlng between natlons of the world 16 I O ' - ffff, xff Cf., ,. . . . ,fA',',,!',,,,, Afxfv., ,',3 . J ' ' ' ,fff 5 frff' ,fr , - ' f ,f ' 711: Y ' - . , . . . . . . sf . . . , - Y u , , .. . Z . . I . . , I . . , . , .. , . . . . . . . . . . ' 7 . . 5 , . 3 I . . . . . , .. . . . .

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4 dfbedylt One of the Student Councrl's projects rn the last two years has been the forergn exchange program sponsored by the Amerrcan Freld Servrce, whrch rs a prrvate, non profrt, educatronal organrzatron The purpose of the exchange program rs to spread understandrng and frrendshrp among the people of the world by sendrng Amerrcan teenagers to other countrres The AFS Amerrcans Abroad rs made up of two programs, the summer program and the school pro ram g The AFS summer program began rn 1950 when nrne Amerrcan teenagers lrved wrth French famrlres for a sum mer They had been rnvrted by French teenagers who had lrved rn the Umted States for a year The next year twenty four students spent the summer rn srx countrres, and erght years later, rn 1959 there were 960 rn twenty frve countrres Under the summer program the Amerrcan teenagers are representatrves of therr schools, communrtres, and the Unrted States, whrle lrvrng wrth forergn famrlres from srx to seven weeks By lrvrng wrth these famrlres they share rn therr darly lrfe and summer actrvrtres They also have an opportunrty to tell therr famrly and frrenck about the Umted States and rn thrs way a bond of understandxng IS created The summer program takes place rn several countrres of South and Central Amenca, Europe, the Far East and the Mrddle East It rs act1ve durrng the months of July and August The AFS School Programbegan 1n 1957 1958 At thrs trme there were forty srx Amerrcan teenagers rn srx forergn countrres In 1959 1960 lIl'11S number was trrpled to 148 rn twelve countries It rs practrcally the same as the sum- mer program except that rt offers students an opportunrty to go to school The school program takes place rn the fall and wrnter, and lasts at least frve months Several countrres rn Europe and New Zealand partrcrpate rn thrs program The cost of erther program rs 525 Included rn thrs rs the cost of the round trrp transportatron round trrp travel abroad between port and frnal destrnatron health rnsurance, chaperonage, orrentatron, spendrng money for shrpboard and the trrp from the Umted States or Canadran port to hrs home There are also personal expenses for the passport, travel between the U S or Canadran port and home and per sonal spendrng money whrch must not be over 5 per week The homes abroad are found by volunteer AFS students who have lrved a year rn the Umted States and have re turned to the1r homes They rntervrew mterested fam: hes and select those which are surtable The frnal approval on all famrlres rs grven by AFS rn New York After the Student Councrl had consrdered and approved the plan of havrng a forergn exchange program here at Octorara they presented the rdea to the student body by havrng a forergn exchange student from Coatesvrlle speak rn a speclal assembly durrng Youth Week The next step was creatrng a local AFS Commrttee wluch would be responsrble for obtarmng the needed rnfor matron and help1ng rarse money The presrdent of the present AFS Commrttee rs Mr Charles Shaw of Parkesburg The other members are M and Mrs Parke Grbson, Mrss Ida Walton, representatrve of the Chrrstrana Women's Club Mrs Davrd Knox, Sr At glen Women's Club, Mr Lloyd Murphy Atglen Cochranvrlle Rotary, Mrs George Maule Mrs Cleon Buck Amen can League Auxrllrary Mr Clrfford L Behrendt Parkesburg Lrons, Mr Charles Walter, Chrrstrana Lrons, Mrs Wrl lram Chapman, school board, Mr and Mrs Ralph Connelly Rev Francrs J Walsh, representatrve of the clerrcal councrl, Pat Ross, John Grbson, Jerry Shaw, Dr and Mrs Herbert Trndall Lucro Valente and Mrs Hawk, represen tatrve of the PTA An Amerrcans Abroad Commrttee was set up and Mrss Olga Lrnk was appornted Charrman The members of the 1958 1959 Amencans Abroad Commrttee were Mr Byron Judy Mr Wrllram Adams, Mrs Mary Chrrsman, Mrs George Maule Bjorg Flaterud Walter Greenfreld Grace Bowermaster Brran O'Leary and Rus sell Chapman At a meetrng of the Junror class Mrss Lrnk presented and explarned the Amerrcans Abroad program All mterested students were asked to frll out prelrmrnary applrcatron blanks Twelve students requested blanks and erght returned them on December 23 the requrred date These erght applrcants were later rntervrewed and four of them were ac cepted The questrons ranged from therr famrly lrfe to government But thrs rs only half of our exchange program Whrle preparatrons were berng made to enter one of our students rnto the forergn exchange program we were host to Bjorg Flaterud, from Norway Bjorg arrrved rn the Umted States on August 5 and was met by the Connellys who were her foster farruly durmg her vrsrt here On the opemng day of school the students of Octorara met Bjorg rn the assembly For the next nrne months she was a member of the student body, gorng to classes and partrcrpatrng rn school actrvrtres such as dances, sports events and Youth Week Trme marched on and soon Bjorg graduated Her graduatron ended not only her school lrfe but her vrsrt to the Umted States as well After partrngcompany wrth the Connellys Bjorg went on a tour through the New England states and the natron's caprtal before embarkrng for Norway About the trme Bjorg left, John Grbson and Jerry Shaw were prepanng to go to Denmark and Italy respectrvely John was the frrst to leave because school starts early rn Denmark Jerry left on August 26 and entered school rn October After therr return rn January both John and Jerry made publrc appearances to help forergn exchange pro grams Octorara's forexgn exchange student for thrs school term rs Lucro Valente from Naples, Italy Lucro applred rn September, 1958, and was selected rn June 1959 Two months later he was arrborne for the Umted States and ar rrved rn New York on August 24 where he was met by hrs foster famrly Dr and Mrs l-I L Trndall of Chrrstrana, the rr son, Robert, and the1r two daughters, Barbara and Carol The frrst day of school Lucro took part rn the assem bly as drd Bjorg the year before We learned of hrs rnterests rn sknng, skrn drvrng and playrng chess, and what hrs favorrte subjects are rn school Durrng the second semester Lucro was a guest at meetings of many organrzatrons rn the Octorara Area and rntroduced the members of these groups to hrs natrve Italy 15 ' o - . . . . . , . - . . .. S . Q U . . i . - . l A . 5 i - . 4 . 1 I 1 -9 I I ' ' 5 - . . . ' ' ' . . : r. William F. Bittle, faculty adviser, Mr. Robert I. Rentz, treasurer and faculty representative, Mrs. Charles Shaw, Mr. ' . . . . . . , . . 'y .- - s . n , , n l , n la n , - - . , . D , I . . . . - . . , . . . . , . - u - l . . U : . , . ' . . ' . ' 9 J 7 9 , . . . . . . -

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we an 7l!4Zq Jerry Shaw was xndeed fortunate rn belng chosen as one of the one hun dred and forty mne Amerlcan students to study abroad this year under the HUSPICCS ofthe Amerlcan Fxeld Servrce exchange program On June 20 Jerry recerved not1f1ca t1on that he would be travelxng to Italy to spend frve months as a representatlve from Octorara From that t1me untrl August 26 hrs departure date, there was much to be done rn language prepara t1on and medxcal exammatlons Jerry was tutored ln the Italxan language by Julxan Z1nzarella of Coatesvrlle On Tuesday afternoon, August 25, Jerry and hrs famlly arr1ved at the Queen's Hotel rn Montreal, Canada, the Q gatherrng pomt of all the AFS students A4 The afternoon was fxlledwxth gettlng ac lng new frxends After fond farewells to famlly and frxends, the students were Sligigiitjjgggrlgegotgge Srgcgngle 531 SEX? Jerry Wlf.l'l hrs Itahan famlly ln front of the apartment where they llved Next mormng at 4 55 A M the boat saxled from Montreal The tnp from Montreal to Rotterdam, Holland took mne days Every mormng on board the students were mn structed 1n the language of the country to wh1ch they were golng Those en route to Italy also had lessons ln the hrstory culture, and economxcs of the country The students and the other passengers aboard enjoyed danclng part1es and other socral act1v1t1es ln the evemngs On September 2, the boat docked at Southampton, England and LeHavre, France Two days later Jerry arrlved at Rotterdam, Holland After a brzef tour of the c1ty he left by tram for Turrn Italy The twoweelcfollowmg were spent ln tourlng the VBIIOUS lndustrles, and places of mterest rn Northern Italy On September 16, the entire group of Amencan students ID Italy returned to M1lan where they were greeted by the1r host fam: l1es w1th whom they would be spendxng the next flve months Jerry's famlly was an average ltahan famlly of four Hxs father had hrs own buslness and was a wholesale grocery salesman l-hs mother was a housewlfe and a secretary for hrs father He also had a brother of frfteen who was rn most of hrs classes at school, and a srster s1x years old Jerry started school m October at the SC19Dt1f1C Lyceum, m Monza Hls courses included geometry, bxology physrcs, Latm, and ancrent h1story During Chrlstmas vacatlon, Jerry, two other Amen ?C?rl1sljctIiiC:i,l:tS, and an Itahan student traveled to Venlce Jerry Poses on the balcony wlth MI and Mrs Luciano The Italran government was so enthused and 1m Mann' Augusto, and Luna pressed w1th the AFS program that they arranged for the students to take a s1x day tour rn January The students left the1r ltallan famlhes and traveled to Rome whxch was the flrst stop on the1r tour Dur1ng the three days spent rn Rome, Jerry v1s1ted many Roman rulns, Itallan government bu1ld1ngs, and the Vatxcan, where the students had a pnvate audrence w1th the Pope From here they went to Florence the cultural center of Italy, and Reggro Em111a, the last stop on the1r tour On January 14 Jerry left Mrlan by tram for Brussels Bel g1um, where he met the students from the other European countrles He boarded the SS SEVEN SEAS rn Zeebrugge Belgrum, where he met John Glbson our other exchange student At 7 00 A M on January 25 Jerry saw perhaps the most 1nsp1r1ng s1ght of all, the statue of Lmberty rn the New York harbor After f1ve months abroad he was home agarn to share w1th us hrs expenences and rmpressxons of Italy. 17 4 o . I ' 'fc 1 ' . Q 0 I 1 s 7 , ' , rf, . . K ' ' . -V f- ' -t : '75-Y 'A - ,. Q ilu . . . 7 , V ,, , . 9' - - - , , ,.,f' '- . ,A quaintedvvith the other students and mak- Q A ,I 'MJ ' ' ' K. - - , ' , ef-,xg ' ' - 1 ' Y ' ' A- ' 1 . ., , . , . . , . . ' I Y : . l 1 ' X ' 9 : . . , .