Clark County Press, Neillsville (Clark Co) WI

July 9, 2008, Page 2

Transcribed by Dolores Mohr Kenyon

Neillsville Student Studies in Brazil

 By Peter Spicer

Zach Vornholt is all smiles as he poses next to his luggage before traveling to Brazil to spend the school year as a foreign exchange student in that country.  Spending his senior year in Brazil was a life-changing experience for Vornholt.  (Contributed photo/Clark County Press)

Many U. S. high schools welcome foreign exchange students each year; Neillsville teenager Zach Vornholt returned the favor by spending a year studying in Brazil.

Vornholt, son of Neillsville teachers John and Sue Vornholt, returned from his stay as a Rotary International foreign exchange student in Salto, Brazil, a suburb located one hour’s drive from São Paulo, the world’s third largest city.  Vornholt traveled to the city with a population of 110,000 last August and returned this June.

Vornholt spent his senior year of high school attending a Salto private school.

Vornholt, 18, wanted to learn in a foreign country after learning about Brazil from a foreign exchange student who attended Neillsville High School.

When Vornholt arrived in Brazil, he had never studied Portuguese but learned the language after several months.

“I just picked it up,” said Vornholt.

However, learning the language was not the most difficult aspect of the trip.

Adjusting to the personalities of the three different families he stayed with throughout the stay was difficult because they were all so different, said Vornholt.

One family was protective of him, the other was the opposite and the other family’s personalities were somewhere between the first two, said Vornholt.

Vornholt adjusted quickly to the Brazilian diet.

“I just like to eat,” said Vornholt, who admitted, however, he wasn’t used to eating rice and beans with every meal.

Meeting new friends despite the language barrier was not a big issue for Vornholt, either.  He can now carry on conversations and write in Portuguese. Some students spoke English, as did one of his host brothers.

“It was great to just, like, meet people,” said Vornholt.

Brazilian students take the same classes each year of high school; the level of class difficulty was an adjustment for Vornholt, who realized Brazilian students don’t use calculators.

“[School] was a lot harder,” said Vornholt, who added Brazilian parents try to send their children to private schools because the public school system is poor.

Although extra-curricula's are not offered at Brazilian schools, Vornholt gave Soccer club a try; however, he soon realized his skills were not up to the level of the other students who live in a country where soccer is top dog.

“They quit calling [me to play] after four months,” joked Vornholt.

Studying as a foreign exchange student was a life-changing experience for Vornholt, who plans to study pre-law in college; he will attend UW-Marshfield/Wood County next fall and plans to transfer to UW-Madison after one year.

“[The experience was] just a great thing,” said Vornholt, who encourages others to be foreign exchange students if possible.

Vornholt learned a lot about himself and others during his stay.

“People are people no matter where you are,” reflected Vornholt. “[The trip] opened my mind a lot more.”