Bio: Wiedenhoeft, Anita
Contact:  Crystal Wendt
Email:  crystal@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Wiedenhoeft, Pieter, De Boer

----Sources: Scrap book one: by Elsa Lange Hardrath & Dorthaleen Edwards Hardrath

Contributed by Halbert "Bud" Hardrath

UNITY GIRL WILL SPEND YEAR OF STUDY IN NETHERLANDS

Anita Wiedenhoeft, a 1965 Colby high school graduate, has been chosen as an American Field Service (AFS) exchange student and will leave June 26 for a year’s stay in Holland. She is the daughter of Gilbert Wiedenhoeft, Unity, and was salutatorian of her graduating class.

Miss Wiedenhoeft received word last Friday that she had been accepted for the trip to the Netherlands. She is the first Colby girl to be chosen to spend a full year in a foreign country under the AFS program. Last summer, Lenore Lenz of rural Colby spent three months in Holland under the AFS "Americans abroad" summer program.

Miss Wiedenhoeft will drive to Chicago Friday, June 18, with her father. From there she will fly to New York, from where she will leave for Europe by ship on June 26.

While on the ship, Anita will attend classes along with other AFS students to begin learning the language and customs of her host country.

The boat will dock in Rotterdam, Holland, on Saturday or Sunday, July 3 or 4.

She will be met at Rotterdam by her host family, Mr. and Mrs. Pieter Simon De Boer and their four children, and taken to the family’s home at Wognum, near Amsterdam.

The De Boers operate a modern dairy farm just outside Wognum.

The farm and home are highly mechanized by European standards and include such farm machinery as milking machines and tractors. The home has television and other modern conveniences.

Antia’s "family" in Holland includes her host mother and father, two sisters and two brothers. Nelly Marianne is 16, Jan Piet is 11, Rene is 9 and Corina Caty is 5.

Mr. De Boer enjoys attending fairs and farm machinery exhibits and Mrs. De Boer is a member of the Netherlands equivalent of a homemakers club. She also participates in gymnastics activities once a week.

After the initial four-week stay with her family, Anita will leave for two weeks to attend a language camp with other AFS’ers in Holland. The language camp will be an intensive and important two weeks, as she will be expected to read, write and speak Dutch well enough to get along in school when it begins in late August.

After the language camp, Anita will return to her host family’s home and begin school at the Het Westfriese Lyceum School at Wognum. The school has an enrollment of about 400 students. Students in the Netherlands attend school from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; and from 8:30 to 12:30 on Wednesday and Saturday. Boys and girls study in separate sections of the school. Anita’s courses and class will be determined by her records at Colby high school, which are being sent to Holland.

When not in school, Antia will spent her time with her host family and friends, living the day-to-day life of a Dutch teenager, helping with the chores on the farm and taking part in the area actives.

Anita will return to the U. S. in July, 1965, and begin her freshman year at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.