Housatonic student of the week

The Lakeville Journal congratulates the honorees of the student of the week program at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. This week, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Mary-Ellen Nelson, Housatonic class of 1942, and her guests Prue and Ross Gard. Ross, a recently retired teacher from New Zealand, attended Housatonic Valley during the 1969-70 school year as a participant in the American Field Study program that brings students to the states to study abroad. The AFS program has a rich history at Housatonic dating back to 1950, and this year it brings us Nichata “Dear” Tawasinchanadech of Thailand, who is our Student of the Week.Dear has enjoyed her experience here, and she finds America and its schools exciting and interesting. The repetitiveness of her education in Thailand contrasts with the variety of offerings and perspectives that she finds at Housatonic Valley, especially in her U. S. History course taught by Mr. Vermilyea. His ability to make the content engaging to his students has been invaluable to Dear, who had little knowledge of this country’s history before she arrived.Although acquiring English has been a challenge for Dear, she naturally enjoys a greater level of fluency with the numerical language of mathematics. Upon returning to Thailand in June, Dear will continue her studies in math over the remaining year and a half of her academic career there. She appreciates the challenge of learning a second language, however, and in her spare time she reads novels in both Thai and English in hopes of improving her fluency. Moreover, she acknowledges the need to develop a well-rounded character, and to this end she has played field hockey, participated on the swim team and practiced the piano.Despite the hospitality of the Lovejoy family here in Falls Village, Dear does miss her homeland, and she is looking forward to seeing her father, mother, older brother and grandfather, as well as the warmer climate of Thailand. After this winter, I’m sure we would all agree, but the Housatonic Valley community is grateful for Dear’s warm smile that has graced our halls this year.

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