Great Crossing has welcomed six foreign exchange students for the 2025–2026 school year. These students arrived in the United States during the month of August, and all will be attending Great Crossing for the full school year.
The six exchange students are from four different countries across the globe, with most of them living more than 4,500 miles from home and adjusting to a six-hour time difference. Sophomore Raul Sales Bobadilla comes from Mexico, junior Valeria Barron Tamayo is also from Mexico and junior Tommaso Grechi’s home country is Italy. Senior exchange students include Adam Ábel, Jerguš Požgaj from Slovakia and Liva Ingevall Meiborg from Denmark.
Exchange students have many reasons why they want to study abroad. Požgaj shared, “I wanted to see a different perspective on how things work on the other side of the planet.”
Barron had similar reasons for wanting to experience a foreign exchange program. She said “I wanted to experience life in another country, their traditions and culture and sharing this whole experience with a new family.”
Being an exchange student means adapting and adjusting to new cultures, environments and daily routines. “For me, the biggest and hardest change I am experiencing right now is being in a new school surrounded by people I don’t know, without any friends or family support,” said Barron.
Požgaj shared two major differences he had to adjust to in the school. “The first change is that here we use Chromebooks for studying. In Slovakia we just use pens, notebooks and textbooks to study,” he explained. “The second big change is in the schedules. In Slovakia schedules are made for the whole week, so every day is different. We usually have seven classes a day and each one lasts 45 minutes.”
According to the organization Bridgeusa, nearly 300,000 exchange students come to the US annually, from 200 different countries, to study in high schools, universities and research institutes. Most of the exchange students at Great Crossing are with the Pan Atlantic Foundation J-1 program.
