Bear River is participating in a program to bring diversity to the school. That program is the student exchange program, which allows students from around the world to experience another country's school system. Bear River’s current exchange students are Yotaphat “C” Pungrattana and Khayrulloh “Khay” Saidov (pronounced Kai). They currently live with their host, Dr. Samuel Johnson, who has hosted five other exchange students before. They all help to diversify each other's lives.
Johnson said some of the reasons he signed up were “that it is incredibly enriching to our lives” and to “watch them grow and help them become adults in this world”.
Johnson takes them to try many activities they cannot do in their countries. For example, he has taken Pungrattana and Saidov to volunteer to feed people experiencing homelessness and is planning to take them to Disneyland. He also learns about their country and culture and connects them with people in the professions they want to pursue.
Pungrattana is from Bangkok, Thailand, where he lives with an older sister, and he is a senior.
Thai school is five days a week and starts at “8:00 and ends at 4:30”. He says that American school is much easier than Thai school, and that one of the main differences between the countries schools is that in American schools, you don't have to wear uniforms.
Also, in Thai schools, there aren't free lunches. Students either have to bring one from home or buy it from the cafeteria. Pungrattana says his favorite thing about Bear River is that everyone is “friendly to him,” and his least favorite thing is the cafeteria food.
Pungrattana says that when he graduates, he plans to go to Chulalongkorn University, and wants to become a surgeon.
He misses his family, but he also said he misses the spicy food. He also said that one of his favorite things about America is how friendly its people are because in Thailand, people don't talk to strangers.
His favorite American food is mac and cheese, though he likes most American foods equally. One thing he wants to do while in America is to ski because in Thailand, they don't have snow.
Saidov, is from Istravsaan, Tajikistan, a landlocked country that borders Afghanistan, China, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan. He lives in an apartment downtown with a younger brother and is also a senior.
In Tajikistan, high school only goes to 11th grade. They also have school on Saturday. Saidov's favorite thing about Bear River is the “teachers and people who work here”. His least favorite thing is how long the school days are.
When Saidov graduates, he also plans to go to a university. He wants to go into IT and cybersecurity. Saidov misses the food from his home country, so he often makes some to share with his temporary family. His favorite thing he has done in America so far was volunteering to feed people experiencing homelessness. He says that he does not have a favorite American food, but that the best food he's had in America so far was Korean barbecue. He also runs a successful YouTube channel called Doodle in his free time.
