News
Student from Spain Spends 2018-19 School Year at GPS
Our second ASSIST student brings international experience to GPS family and friends.
At home, junior Laura Graff lives in a flat in Madrid, navigating her city mostly through walking or public transportation. She attends a coed German school in Madrid and speaks four languages. So when she was selected as GPS’s second ASSIST student and placed with a family on Signal Mountain, she braced herself for the culture shock. Fortunately, the transition has been seamless.
“She is so much like me—she could have been my kid,” says host mom Michelle Gardner. “This has been such a great experience for our family. My girls have really enjoyed and learned a lot from it.”
This is the second year the Gardner family has hosted an ASSIST student, and daughters Meghan ’23 and Lauren have enjoyed welcoming another temporary older sister. Meghan has helped Graff adjust to her GPS schoolwork and received help with her Spanish pronunciation in return. Lauren, a fifth-grader, has expressed interest in being a host family again in the future, but would love to see another GPS family get to enjoy hosting during the 2019-20 school year.
The Gardners’ ASSIST student last year was Maria Soldevilla-Garcia, also from Spain. While attending GPS, Garcia had two host families, the Gardners in the fall and the Bages in the spring. This year Graff has remained with the Gardners for the entire school year to keep transitions to a minimum.
Graff has already visited Atlanta and Nashville with her host family and plans to accompany them on a trip to California for spring break. Her parents will visit Chattanooga late February and take her to New York City. She is excited for their first visit; her only contact with them since August has been through FaceTime and texts.
“I thought Christmas was going to be hard, but we had a lot of [the Gardner] family over,” she says. “The house was super full, so there wasn’t much time to be homesick.”
“Christmas traditions in the U.S. are quite different from Spain, and Laura really enjoyed sharing in our holiday,” Gardner says.
Graff has also adjusted well at school, joining the tennis team and attending volleyball practice. She is also in MarComm Club.
GPS is actually not Graff’s first experience with an all-girls atmosphere. Last spring she participated in an exchange program at an all-girls school in Germany. (Her father is German and she plans to attend university there.) Even so, Graff notes something unique about the GPS culture.
“She is so much like me—she could have been my kid,” says host mom Michelle Gardner. “This has been such a great experience for our family. My girls have really enjoyed and learned a lot from it.”
This is the second year the Gardner family has hosted an ASSIST student, and daughters Meghan ’23 and Lauren have enjoyed welcoming another temporary older sister. Meghan has helped Graff adjust to her GPS schoolwork and received help with her Spanish pronunciation in return. Lauren, a fifth-grader, has expressed interest in being a host family again in the future, but would love to see another GPS family get to enjoy hosting during the 2019-20 school year.
The Gardners’ ASSIST student last year was Maria Soldevilla-Garcia, also from Spain. While attending GPS, Garcia had two host families, the Gardners in the fall and the Bages in the spring. This year Graff has remained with the Gardners for the entire school year to keep transitions to a minimum.
Graff has already visited Atlanta and Nashville with her host family and plans to accompany them on a trip to California for spring break. Her parents will visit Chattanooga late February and take her to New York City. She is excited for their first visit; her only contact with them since August has been through FaceTime and texts.
“I thought Christmas was going to be hard, but we had a lot of [the Gardner] family over,” she says. “The house was super full, so there wasn’t much time to be homesick.”
“Christmas traditions in the U.S. are quite different from Spain, and Laura really enjoyed sharing in our holiday,” Gardner says.
Graff has also adjusted well at school, joining the tennis team and attending volleyball practice. She is also in MarComm Club.
GPS is actually not Graff’s first experience with an all-girls atmosphere. Last spring she participated in an exchange program at an all-girls school in Germany. (Her father is German and she plans to attend university there.) Even so, Graff notes something unique about the GPS culture.
“I will miss the atmosphere at GPS,” she says. “It’s super positive and supportive—it’s fun to learn here. It made it easier for me in the beginning. I don’t worry about what the girls think about me, the way I look, or my English. Boys at home will tease you about that.”
After school Graff enjoys spending time with her new friends, doing the typical activities of an American teenager such as going to school dances, hanging out at the mall, or having sleepovers. “I definitely will stay in touch with my friends here,” she says. “We’re already planning trips.”
After school Graff enjoys spending time with her new friends, doing the typical activities of an American teenager such as going to school dances, hanging out at the mall, or having sleepovers. “I definitely will stay in touch with my friends here,” she says. “We’re already planning trips.”
About ASSIST
ASSIST is a nonprofit, international educational and cultural exchange organization based in the United States and active in more than 20 countries around the globe. Its core work is to identify, place, and support outstanding international students on one-year scholarships at leading American independent secondary schools.
One of ASSIST’s goals is to create a worldwide circle of future leaders-friends who have come to know and respect one another, and one another’s cultures, by sharing a year of study and living together. International outreach begins with individual relationships; it fosters these relationships through a year of academic and cultural immersion designed to affect peers, teachers, friends, family members and business associates for a lifetime. ASSIST believes that bringing together future American leaders and future leaders of other nations makes a substantial contribution toward promoting understanding and tolerance of cultures, racial designations, and religious beliefs. To learn more, visit ASSISTscholars.org.
One of ASSIST’s goals is to create a worldwide circle of future leaders-friends who have come to know and respect one another, and one another’s cultures, by sharing a year of study and living together. International outreach begins with individual relationships; it fosters these relationships through a year of academic and cultural immersion designed to affect peers, teachers, friends, family members and business associates for a lifetime. ASSIST believes that bringing together future American leaders and future leaders of other nations makes a substantial contribution toward promoting understanding and tolerance of cultures, racial designations, and religious beliefs. To learn more, visit ASSISTscholars.org.
