Capturing Dreams: Being an American High School Student (I Part)

 

Hello, or should I say Howdy? My name is Eleonora and I can finally say I’m an exchange student!

I’ve been living in Dallas (TX) since August, and I’ve decided to share with y’all the most iconic parts of my experience. Naturally, I’m starting with the most mind-blowing one: a whole new instruction system. But first:

 ·       What’s an exchange student?

 Basically being an exchange student means spending a period of time studying abroad. But the reality behind this very formative adventure it’s way wider. It’s a full immersion experience in a whole new culture and way of expressing yourself while practicing another language.

 More than 30 nations all around the world accept exchange students, usually between the age of 14 and 18 years old. You can either participate in a summer course that lasts between 2 and 5 weeks, or you can decide that this is not enough for you, and take part in a trimester, semester or a whole school year abroad. It’s with these last programs that you actually get to enjoy the every-day life of a normal teenager from another part of the world.

 ·       What is it like to attend school in the USA?

 Of course every school in the USA is different from one another, especially when talking about sizes (big ones can reach the 8.000 students enrolled!), but generally the structure stays similar in every state.

 

(The biggest High School in Texas)

 

One of the first unexpected things you discover once arrived, is that they have 12 school years, and they are called “grades”. High-schoolers are all the students from the 9^th to the 12^th grade, and each of them is referred to with a different name. In order: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior.

 As many may already know, in American High school the students walk from one class to another, and every teacher gets assigned a room they have to take care of. Don’t be surprised, if entering a speech class, you will find a podium in front of the black board, or a sofa instead of the teacher’s desk. That’s just how your mentor decided to arrange their classroom according to their method of teaching. 

This system allows students to pick what classes they will take every semester. Usually, the course choices are wide, therefore they are divided into categories, including Arts, Maths, History, Science etc. In four years, you need a specific total of credits from each branch to graduate. Examples of exotic ones for us are certainly Yearbook, Forensic Science, or Yoga. In contrast to us, you attend every class every day.

 

 (Highland Park Yearbook Class 2018)

 While you are required to take certain categories every year, there’s a lot of flexibility. This means that a Freshman and a Junior can find each other’s taking the same class together, and it’s this variety that I appreciate the most about this school system. Groups of friends are never aged based, and the eldest helps the new ones to adapt.

Usually Seniors, since it’s their last year, gets privileges, like getting out of school for lunch period, and with good enough grades, even skipping the final exams!

 Conclusion

 Did you really think I was done? This is just a small taste of what the routine of a teenager in the USA feels like! Stay tuned for the next parts, where I’m going to talk to you about Sports, Clubs, Dances and so much more!

Today's Blogger

 "How you doin'? My name is Eleonora Campi and I'm attending the third year of Liceo Scientifico. I consider myself a very curious person, that likes to embrace new adventures everyday. From natural environments to big cities, I enjoy spending time travelling. That's why I've been a scout for over 8 years, and I'm trying to study multiple foreign languages. In fact, the two things I loved the most since I was a child have always been Japanese culture and cats. Hopefully, through my work on this project, I will be able to convey to you all new enchanting facts!"