OCR Text |
Show EDUCATION The Park Record. Editor: Bubba Brown education@parkrecord.com 435.649.9014 ex.118 STUDENTS CAN JOIN THE FBI TEEN ACADEMY Summit County students can apply to participate in the FBI 2017 Teen Academy, which is set to be held from at the Salt Lake City field office Oct. 20. According to a press release, students must fulfill a number of requirements to participate. They must: be a U.S. citizen, reside in Utah, be currently enrolled in an accredited high school in Utah, maintain a grade-point average of at least 2.5, be aged 16 to 18 on Oct. 20 and complete a 500-word essay about why they’re interested in attending the Teen Academy. The event will run from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and will be held during the UEA break, so students will not miss class. For more information, or to apply, visit www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/ saltlakecity/community-outreach-1. Applications are due to Melissa Adams at madams2@fbi.gov by Sept. 15. PHYSICS TEACHERS HAVE RARE BOND, A-10 www.parkrecord.com A-9 WED/THURS/FRI, SEPTEMBER 6-8, 2017 For student, Germany was whole new world Despite not knowing language, he immersed himself in the culture By BUBBA BROWN The Park Record Nathan Hurner didn’t speak the language. He didn’t know much about the culture. But he wondered this: Why should he let that stop him? Hurner, a senior at Park City High School, recently returned from Germany, where he spent nearly a year as part of an exchange program through the U.S. State Department. When he was accepted into the program, he knew from spending a couple of years living in France that the trip would SENIORS SHOULD FILL OUT be unlike anything he’d ever done. It FINANCIAL AID REQUESTS would be difficult at times, he predicted, but he was eager to soak it all in. High school seniors who intend to go “I knew that the best way to learn a to college or technical school next fall language and the best way to experishould fill out applications for federal ence a country is to be in it,” he said. student aid, called FAFSA, beginning in “I wanted to try that and do it and be October. According to a press release on my own.” from the Kentucky Higher Education He returned this summer having imAssistance Authority, the applications determine whether students are eligimersed himself in an unfamiliar culble for federal grants and student loans ture for 10 months, from last August to and must also be completed to qualify June, surrounded by people who spoke for scholarships. Students are encoura language he didn’t know. He spent aged to apply even if they think it’s unhis childhood traveling the world with likely they’ll qualify for federal aid. To his family, but this was the first time apply, students can go to fafsa.gov. he was in a foreign country alone, and it gave him a fresh perspective on the DYSLEXIA AWARENESS world and his place in it. NONPROFIT SEEKS HELP “I was more prepared for it, but it Park City READS, a nonprofit that aims was still a rush,” he said. “My first to raise awareness about reading disday, I remember my host family all abilities like dyslexia within the Park City speaking to me and I had no idea what community, is accepting applications was going on. I told myself that the for its advocate program through Sepfirst weeks would be crazy, but in a tember 10th. Selected participants will few months I’d get acclimated.” complete training through The Dyslexia That’s exactly what happened. After Training Institute and provide profesbeing overwhelmed by his surroundsional advocate services to local famiings early in his trip -- fortunately, lies. Those interested can email parkhis host family spoke English, though cityreads@gmail.com. This program is only as a last resort to convey somesupported by a grant from the Park City thing to him -- Hurner began to catch Community Foundation. For more inforon to the language. It happened slowly mation about the nonprofit, visit parkciGGRE_2580Columbine_Half_090617.pdf PM at fi1 rst,9/5/17 but his12:57 progress accelerated tyreads.org. BUBBA BROWN/PARK RECORD Nathan Hurner, a senior at Park City High School, recently returned from a foreign exchange trip to Germany. He says it was fascinating to immerse himself in a new language and culture. once he understood the basics. He was able to communicate with his host family and peers at school within a few months. “For the first couple of months, it was all about listening,” he said. “If I did understand something, I’d make a note of it. Then I got better from there. I felt like I was at a good place both speaking and understanding by the beginning of January. Then it was about learning more vocabulary.” As challenging as it was to learn the language, becoming acclimated to the German culture also took some adjustments, even though he discovered it shares many similarities with life in the United States, he said. For one, Hurner had to discover his role within his host family, which encouraged him to participate in as many community events as possible, introducing him to new people and pushing him out of his comfort zone on a regular basis. But even small things, such as the Germans’ propensity to eat dinner late in the day and differences at school compared to what he was used to in Park City, surprised Hurner. For instance, he took more class subjects in Germany, his course schedule was flexible from day to day and teachers changed classrooms in between periods, instead of the students. After coming home, it was hard to choose whether he preferred the German style of education or the American system. “It was just different,” he said. He was also in Germany during a time when the eyes of the world were on America. When he arrived, someone would ask him nearly every day how it was possible that the United States was on the verge of electing Donald Trump as president. He said that, while Trump wouldn’t have been his choice, he felt responsibility to explain the mindset of Trump’s supporters and put them into the context of broader American culture. “To the (Germans), it was kind of a joke,” he said. “They couldn’t believe it and they were laughing at me, which was kind of hard. … But I tried to be very diplomatic and impartial about both sides. You had to be careful to make sure people didn’t think Americans were too one-sided in either direction.” |