International students at Rotary

The Stratford Rotarians recently invited some international students to address their meeting. Both St Marys' and our school responded with students. Emelie and Tassio represented us extremely well. Emelie is from Sweden and is part of an AFS programme. She is here until the end of the year. She spoke about the differences between education in the two countries and about her plans for the future. Tassio is from Brazil and while he started off as an exchange student, he loves New Zealand so much he now has permanent residency. Tassio told the Rotarians about some of his New Zealand experiences and how he appreciates the way NZ backs up their rules and regulations with consequences (unlike what he says happens in Brazil). I was very proud of both students. They represented Stratford High School with distinction. Incidentally the photo also shows the three Japanese girls currently at St Marys'.Two are fee paying students and one is an exchange student. My thanks to Stratford Rotary for hosting this annual event.