Two foreign exchange students are walking the halls of Southmoreland High School this year.

Loulia Leclercq of Belgium is participating in the Rotary exchange student program while Anna Eck of Germany is participating in the American International Student Exchange Program.

“It is nice to have another exchange student here,” said Leclercq. “We do a lot of things together and when we have something big, we both do it together and we have a lot of friends together.”

Together they visited Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and Annapolis.

Eck said her decision to take part in an exchange program was spontaneous.

“My sister was an au pair in Ireland and since then it’s just been a dream of mine to go to another country,” she said.

The United States was one of her first choices. Once the country was finalized, the exchange program picked the state and the school district.

Eck is in the senior class at Southmoreland, but once she returns home, she will still have to finish the 12th and 13th grades before she can go on to college.

This is also Leclercq’s first time to take part in an exchange program. She graduated from high school in Belgium last year and plans to go to college after her year here in the United States.

“My dad is in the Rotary and they have a youth exchange program that I’ve been in contact with for a few years,” she said. “I wanted to experience a new culture, meet new people and just do something great before I went to college.”

While Eck had a few anxious moments making the transition, including worrying about whether anyone would like her, Leclercq said she wasn’t anxious about anything.

“I have just looked at it as enjoying every minute of an adventure,” she said.

Leclercq has had two different host families since coming to the United States. She still keeps in contact with Neal and Laurie Weaver of Scottdale who was her host family the first half of the school year.

For the second half of the school year, she is staying with Mike and Colleen Tomasello of Scottdale.

Eck is staying with Karen Kiefer of Scottdale, who will be her host parent for her entire experience as an exchange student.

Kiefer said this is the second exchange student her family has hosted through the American International Student Exchange Program.

“I think it’s just such a wonderful learning opportunity for my children to host exchange students,” she said. “They share their culture with us.”

Kiefer added that having an exchange student from Germany is exciting in its own right.

“My heritage is German, so it’s fun to hear German spoken in the house after so many years,” she said.

Kiefer said she has also enjoyed helping Eck reach her goal of seeing as many states as possible while she’s here.

They drove to Florida so Eck could say she had been in the different states they drove through. Ohio and Georgia are also on the list of states seen.

“Also, Anna is staying for a little longer when school is out so she can go on vacation with us to the Grand Canyon in June,” Kiefer said. “We’ll take a southern route on the way there and a northern route on the way back so she can add a lot more states to her list.”

“I think sponsoring kids really helps with future generations,” Kiefer said.

Both girls are looking forward to taking part in the senior prom — something that isn’t a part of their culture.

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