Bio: Wiedenhoeft, Anita #2
Contact: Crystal Wendt

Surnames: Wiedenhoeft, Detert

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

Hardrath Family Photo Album

Contributed by Halbert "Bud" Hardrath

A. F. S. STUDENTS LEAVING FRIDAY

Two high school students will leave Friday, June 25, as American Field Service students, one to spend the summer in Norway and the other for a full year’s stay in Holland.

They are Sue Detert, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd R. Detert, 301 S. Vine Ave., who will spend the summer months with a family in Borgestad, Norway, under the A. F. S. Americans Abroad summer program; and Miss Anita Wiedenhoeft, daughter of Gilbert Wiedenhoeft, route 1, Unity, a this year’s graduate of Colby, Wis. High School, whose host family, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Simon de Boer and four children will meet her in Rotterdam, Holland, and from there go to the de Boers modern dairy farm just outside Wognum.

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She will sail from New York Cit on Saturday aboard the M. V. Seven Seas and is scheduled to arrive in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on July 6.

Mari Oterholts, her Norwegian "sister,’ will meet her in Oslo on July 7 and then entrain for the Oterholts home in Borgestad, where they will be met by Mr. and Mrs. John Oterholts and Mari’s brother and sister, Par and Annegro.

Mr. Oterholts is a house painter and the three children are of school age. The town of Borgestad, Norway, is located in the southern tip of Norway in the Telemark region, near Skiem.

Sue will spend her summer living as a member of the family, doing the activities the family will be doing. The family has much interest in folk dancing and in fond of the outdoors.

There is a possibility that Sue will see her former Swedish "sister," Kerstin Elisabeth Bergstrom of Gothenburg, Sweden, which is just a day’s journey from Borgestad. Kerstin lived with the Detert family in Marshfield in 1963-64 and attended Marshfield Senior High School as an American Field Service student.

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"Walk Together, Talk Together, All Ye People of the Earth: Then and Only Then Shall Ye Have Peace" is the motto of A. F. S., a privet non-profit organization founded in 1914 as a volunteer ambulance corps.

After World War I was over it was felt strongly that a better understanding was needed among peoples of the world. In the beginning students from aboard came to the United Sates during the school year. Some of the students who had studied here then expressed the desire to have Americans come to them.

The Americans Abroad program was started in 1950, when nine countries acted as host to American teen-agers. The number grew to 835 in 1964.

Candidates for the American Abroad program are screened and selected by the local A. F. S. Chapter, which then submits the applications of at least three students to A. F. S., New York, for selection on a national basis. Final selection and placement in families and schools abroad are done by A. F. S., New York.

A.F. S. is not a "tour" or "vacation." It is an opportunity to learn about another country by first-hand experience. Participation in the Americans Abroad program requires the utmost from the student in cooperation tact and self-discipline. A. F. S. asks each student to do his or her utmost to leave the best image of America wherever they are placed. They supply the students with a great deal of information with a great deal of information and suggestions to help them do this.

There were 2, 904 foreign students in America for the 1964-65, school year and 304 Americans in foreign countries. Homes are canvassed in foreign countries and asked to take students and there are many who would like to do so but they do not have enough room in their home. Apparently, the average home abroad has less space than the American homes.

Anita, who was salutatorian of her graduating class, is the first Colby girl to be chosen to spend a full year in a foreign country under the A. F. S. program.

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She and her father will drive to Chicago Friday and from there she will fly to New York, leaving there Saturday, June 26, abroad a ship for Europe. While on ship, Anita will attend classes along with other A. F. S. students to begin learning the language and customs of her host country.

The boat will dock in Rotterdam July 3 or 4. The de Boers’ 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.

Anita’s "family" in Holland includes a mother and father, two sisters, and two brothers - Nelly Marianne, 16; Jan Piet, 11; Rene, 9; and Corina Caty, 5. After the initial four-week stay with her family, Anita will leave for two weeks to attend a language camp with other A. F. S.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, she will return to the de Boer home and begin classes at the Het Westfriese Lyceum School at Wognum. The school has an enrollment of about 400 students. Classes there are held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and from 8:30 a.m. to 12:0 p.m. 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, Wis. High School which are being sent to Holland.

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

She is scheduled to return to the United States in July, 1966, and plans to begin her freshman year at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

[Photo caption] A. F. S. Students Europe-Bound- Miss Anita Wiedenhoeft, left, daughter of Gilbert Wiedenhoeft, route 1, Unity, and Sue Detert, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd R. Detert, 301 S. Vine Ave., are leaving Friday en route to Europe, Anita to spend a full year in Holland as an American Field Service student and Sue to spend this summer in Norway under the A. F. S. Americans Abroad summer program. The girls are pictured in the Detert home talking over plans of their impending stays aboard.