Friday, November 2, 2012 2:10 PM CDT

Enterprise Staff

Viktoria Stettner, a German Exchange Student from Bavaria, left Warsaw on Halloween, after eleven weeks studying at John Boise Middle School and living with the LaMonte and Rachelle Yoder family. Stettner collected Missouri mugs, tee shirts and footballs as well as candy and Oreo cookies to take home as souvenirs and gifts for her family. It was the first American visit for the 14-year old, who said that she would like to come again in the future.

Stettner’s visit was privately arranged by a mutual friend of the Yoder and Stettner families after the teen qualified for and was encouraged by her school in Bavaria to apply for a position as a foreign exchange student. The Yoders received permission for Stettner to attend school in the Warsaw School District in May, and she was enrolled after her birth certificate and other pertinent paperwork was forwarded from Bavaria.

“I had to have good grades, be able to pay my own way and speak English,” said Stettner when asked how she qualified for her visit here. “We learn English, Italian and French as well as German in our schools, but speaking English in Warsaw was a little hard at first.”

At John Boise Middle School, Stettner was placed in the eighth grade and joined the choir. In Bavaria, she is a ninth grader in a year-round school program. She said that she really liked it here because she made many new friends, including Ashlyn Yoder who was her roommate during her stay. She enjoyed short trips to Virginia Beach for a family wedding, Springfield for a movie, and St. Louis to climb up in the Arch. She also took a day to teach some German to elementary students at South School where her sponsor, Rachelle Yoder, teaches Reading. She made more than one visit to McDonalds and said that they have such restaurants in Bavaria, but not as many as in Missouri.

Upon arriving back in Bavaria, Stettner will return to her parents, two brothers, two sisters and grandparents who live on a farm that has been in her family for 450 years. It is located about an hour and a half from Munich and a 10-minute drive to a small town where groceries are sold. She will return to her old school a few days after her return, but will soon enjoy school holidays in November and at Christmas, with more to come at Easter and in the summer.

Stettner was asked if she had made any plans for a future career and she said “not really,” but she might want to be a nurse. She said that there were universities in her country, but small higher education schools were more common that trained students for specific careers. Another thing that she noticed as being different in Bavaria was that driver’s licenses were more expensive than in Missouri and were not issued unless a person was at least 18 years old.

Information about hosting foreign exchange students can be found on line for those interested in being a sponsor. But it may be prudent to check procedures and qualifications required by local school districts first.