Foreign students are saying guten tag to Bear River.

Siblings from Germany are visiting Nevada County and taking classes at Bear River High School until October 14th, the beginning of Fall break. Leon Rockell, a junior, and his sister Hannah Rockell, a sophomore, said that Bear River and its students are wonderful.

“Students are open and very nice. … That’s special,” said Leon. “The sports integrated in school is interesting. … We don’t have that in Germany.”

“I have the same opinion as my brother,” said Hannah. “I think the school is really fun. The people are very kind. The school system is very interesting. It’s interesting with the periods … We don’t have anything like that.”

Leon agreed with his sister.

“The people are very interesting,” he said.

Bethany Williams, Bear River’s counselor for students with the last names K-Z, enjoys interacting with the German students at Bear River.

“They bring diversity,” said Mrs. Williams. “They seem very enthusiastic and really excited to have the American High School experience. They talk about how athletics are different. They say they don’t have all the extra curricular activities.”   

Although it is wonderful to have foreign students, Mrs. Williams noticed struggles they face.

“Typically foreign students have a struggle with the language barrier,” she added. “I think they struggle like any new student would.”