The week of March 12 was Fraser’s annual Diversity week. Students were encouraged to partake in events that embraced the diverse student body of Fraser High School. On Wednesday,  Senior Alexandru Capizzi held a diversity panel composed of either exchange students from other countries, or students that transferred to Fraser from different states. Lara Dumoutier from Germany, Marta Diaz Magro from Spain, Kyle Anichi transferred to and from three different schools before Fraser, Charles Cook from Tennessee, and Ramez Alkfoof from Jordan. Lara and Marta, both sophomores, find the schooling at Fraser to be much different from that of Germany and Spain. Marta is taking Intro to Calc, which is a senior class here at Fraser, but a sophomore class in Spain. Charles, Kyle, and Ramez all had opposite opinions, all agreeing that the schooling at Fraser is exactly the same level as their original schools. As expected, all of the students talked about missing their family and friends back home and trying to adjust to the new atmosphere of the American people.

“I like how friendly the people are here. Everyone in Germany is unfriendly and angry all of the time,” Sophomore Lara Dumoutier said.

Along with the struggle of adapting without family and friends, all students except for Kyle shared the struggle of the language barrier. Lara and Marta said they still do not understand some english words or how to pronounce them. Ramez found it interesting to see how people reacted when he speaks his language to other students fluent in the same one. Charles does still speak english, but found it hard to make friends here at first because people teased him about his southern accent.

Senior Alexandru Capizzi , the student who organized the panel, was born in Romania and was given up for adoption. When he was nine, he was adopted by American parents. In the adoption center, Capizzi didn’t have proper schooling. When he came to America, he didn’t speak any english and had to learn through a school spanish teacher. The teacher would try and translate for the language Capizzi spoke. Although moving to America and learning english was a struggle for him, he adapted well to his surroundings.

Students who were attending the panel were encouraged to ask the group questions about how their home country was and what they like about America towards the end of the discussion. Through Diversity Week, students learned what it’s like to live in different cultures and about different countries from their fellow peers.