8 Student Prints Features

story tony vanzo features editor

Having a job at the circus sounds out-landish for teenagers in America, but it’s nothing short of normal for the everyday life of foreign exchange student, Minna Pulsa. This year, Mehlville opens its arms to both Minna Pulsa and Mailen Pettersen. Much like in past years, these students came from thousands of miles away from St. Louis. For more than a year, Pulsa, current senior at Mehlville, did everything in her power to come to America. Coming from Siilinjärvi, Finland, Pulsa had a long jour-ney ahead of her. Her journey started with a grueling process of different forms and interview, all of which tested her personality and ca-pabilities. She was given all her shots re-quired by the Foreign Exchange program.

Hi, My NameIs Foreign

Finally, she got the news that she would come to America. “I really wanted to meet different peo-ple, learn better English, and be shown different cultures,” said Pulsa. From Trondheim, Norway comes Mailen Pettersen. She, like Pulsa, wanted to come to America to experience the dif-ferent culture and to increase her English abilities. “English in Norway has the same im-portance as Norweigan. We learn English starting in the first grade and continue it throughout our schooling,” said Pettersen. Both girls are strong English speakers. “The worst part is the English printed books. It takes me about four hours every night to do my homework because I have

to translate it before starting”, said Pulsa Whether in Norway or Finland, food is much different than the many different fast foods that Americans over indulge in everyday. In Finland, the cafeteria lunch menu typically consists of potatoes and either chicken or ham. “America has so many fast food places . In Finland we have very few,” said Pulsa. By the end of each of their journeys, Minna and Maileen hope to get the full experience of what America has to offer. This year at Mehlville the Spanish class-es offer a trip to Madrid, Spain. Students partaking in this journey will be staying with a host family for an entire week. To find out how to get involved contact the Spanish department.

story bryce o’nealwriter

Finding out if becoming a student worker is the right move can be tough when there are so many different op-tions. These include everything from being a cadet teacher to helping out the counselors and secretaries as an office aid. However, many of these choices are hard to come by, and often students do not even know they have these options. Abbey Eberhardt, senior, is a cadet teacher in Coach Wojewuczki’s fresh-man aerobics class. Contrary to popular belief, however, Eberhardt explains that being a cadet teacher is not all just sit-ting around not working. “I take attendance, make sure the stu-dents dress out, run laps, and do their exercises, and eventually I will be lead-ing their exercises,” said Eberhardt. Although it is still work, Eberhardt seems to enjoy what she does. “Aerobics is one of my favorite classes. I have a lot of fun in there,” said Eber-

hardt. “I get the chance to go outside dur-ing school and relieve some of the stress it gives me.” Other than cadet teaching, students can work in the school as a library aid. One such student is Sami Parkinson, senior. She explains how she got to be a library aid in a much different way than Eber-hardt’s course. “I had an open class and I had enough credits, so they put me in [the program] as a library aid,” said Parkinson. One thing that some people may not know is that none of these positions offer any credits, and the only way you can en-ter into any of these programs is if you will have enough credits to graduate without having a regular class. This opportunity is simply for students who do not need a credit and would like to help out in one way or another. “I put books away, hang up posters, and laminate things,” said Parkinson. Chris Jones, senior, works as an aid in the guidance office and believes that it is a good idea for certain students to take op-tions like these. “You basically just help out,” said Jones. “Whatever they need you to do you just do

it.” “Only the kids who are going to be able to graduate [should] because it is a no credit class,” said Jones. “I believe that if you want to do it you should go for it be-cause it is a great opportunity.” There are many different reasons why taking these options is a good thing to think about as juniors, sophomores, or even freshmen, providing they can handle the work, and will have enough credits to graduate. “I do it because the counselors are hard workers and I thought I would help them out,” said Jones. “It is just a great experi-ence helping out your counselors, and [in return] they help you with your college needs” Overall, it seems that the main reason is that doing these programs helps other people and brings about personal satisfac-tion. “You actually do work, you don’t always just sit around,” said Eberhardt. “You get candy,” said Parkinson. “What-ever the librarians bring in you can eat.” In the end, there are plenty of pros and cons to taking these opportunities, and in the end, one must simply stop and think if it is the right choice for them.

All WorkAnd No Class