Foreign Exchange Students in the Falls

When you ask most foreigners what places they would most like to see in America, New York, California, and Disney World might be at the top of the list.

So when students studying here through the Council on International Education Exchange find out they are coming to Wichita Falls, you wonder if they might be a little disappointed, after first finding out where Wichita Falls is on the map.

But even if some of those students are disappointed at first, most find they wouldn't trade their host cities and schools for any where else.

"Write down the slope, slope intercept formula, and the point slope formula."

If that confuses you, think how confusing it might be if it wasn't even in your native language.

That's what 16 year-old Antonia Toppke of Germany and several other foreign exchange students at Rider High School face every day in class, but it's a challenge they face gladly for the chance to see people and places they have read and dreamed about for years.

"I have a lot of friends who told me about that and they say it's amazing, you have to see it. It's so different every state is different," said Antonia Toppke.

Toppke is just one of dozens of students discovering all those differences as part of the educational exchange program in Texoma.

It may not be the bright lights and fast pace of the big cities they read about and saw in movies back home, but Texoma is still opening up a strange and wonderful new experience.

Toppke's host father, Scott Myers says she's gotten to witness a different side of America she wouldn't experience in a big city.

"They get a taste of West Texas. The culture is completely different then if she went to even the Metroplex. People here are very friendly," said Myers.

"They come and say hi I don't know you, you're new, let's be friends and that's amazing," said Toppke.

Texas CIEE Regional Director Joyce Hill agrees. She says Wichita Falls is a perfect place for exchange students, especially those who are visiting the United States for the first time.

"Wichita Falls is really a great grass roots community, like a lot of the other communities in the state of Texas. And the kids get the real picture of Texas coming to a community like this," she said.

And as Antonia has found it's not "what" that makes the experience, but "who."

"The people in America are very open minded and I love that about America," she said.

There are about 30 foreign exchange students staying with host families in Texoma this year.