EXCHANGE STUDENTS: Veronika Nagy
Munich, Germany, a city of 1,300,000 people, is the home of Veronika Nagy. She 17 years old and was born in Budapest, Hungary. She moved to Germany when she was four years old.
Veronika lives with the Denny and Diane Kruger family southeast of Goessel. On the Kruger's small farm there are 33 chickens, 11 goats, one dog, two cats, and four cows. Nagy doen't have any pets in Munich.
"I have helped milk the goats," she said with a grin, "but it is not one of my daily chores."
She will have two more years of school left when she returns to Germany. Her high school has 1,000 students — all girls. There are grades five through 13 in her school, which is the equivalent of the American high school. In Germany, children go to kindergarten from ages 3 through 6 and then start grade one at about 6 years old.
Nagy began learning English in fifth grade, and she can now speak English, Hungarian, German, and a little bit of Latin. When she calls home she talks to her family in Hungarian. Her father knows very little English.
Nagy lives in Munich with her mother, father, and 15-year-old sister Izabella. Her father, an engineer, works with air conditioning and heating projects. When Nagy left for the United States, he was working on a project for the Frankfurt airport.
Nagy has been active in Goessel choir, volleyball, golf, and drama.
"Mr. Bontrager told me that I am the only exchange student at Goessel that has ever taken a vocal solo to contest," Nagy said.
Nagy qualified for the District KMEA choir last fall, but she got sick just before the performance so she couldn't participate. This spring she earned a one rating at district and a one rating at state on her vocal solo — one German song and one English song.
In Germany, Nagy participates in choir, dance team, and drama club. In an all-girl school, she admits that she usually gets a boys' part when the school selects its cast for a play. Nagy used her dance skills in the Goessel's school play last winter.
Nagy also plays volleyball and field hockey in her native country.
"The volleyball competition in the United States is much more difficult than in Germany," Nagy said. "I had never played golf before, and I was the only girl on the Goessel team."
Nagy was able to compete in two JV golf meets while in Goessel
Nagy will have to wait to begin driving a car — she can start pursing a license when she turns 18.
"Germans need to spend several thousands dollars to enroll in driving school," she said.
For several months she'll learn the rules, and then she'll need to drive with an official in the car. But it's no problem for a teen-ager in Munich to be without a driver's license: public transportation is everywhere.
And what's Nagy's advice for German students considering studying in America?
"Get involved with everything you can," she said. "Be open and not too shy."
Some of the biggest benefits of Nagy's experience were the chance to become more independent — and also polish her English skills, she said.
Nagy is looking forward to having her father and sister come to Kansas for her graduation this Saturday. She'll stay in the U.S. until May 29.
