By AMBER DILLEY
GLASGOW — In 1976, Barren County High School welcomed the second person in its student exchange program, Juan Escudero who is from Chile.
Almost 33 years later, Juan sent his only daughter, Maria Francisca Escudero, also known as Panchi, to live with the daughter of the woman who brought Juan to the area.
Joan Coomer was teaching language at the school when she decided to start the exchange program.
“I wanted my students and the exchange students to have some practical experience with language, so I started the program and it worked,” Coomer said. “Panchi’s dad was the second student we ever had with that program. We all adopted him; everybody loved Juan. She’s (Maria) my granddaughter two ways because her dad was like a son to me and right now she’s with my daughter’s family, so she’s like a double-granddaughter.”
Escudero’s experience hasn’t been exactly like her father’s, since his host family, Marvis and Jane Barrick, is currently in Florida, but she has still been able to learn about his time here.
“I didn’t recognize him from his picture in the yearbook he had from here,” Escudero said. “He looks so different now.”
She’s learned about her own family, being able to be around people who knew him when he was at Barren County High School, Coomer said.
Escudero said her father also told her about the area and she wanted to see it for herself.
“I’ve heard a lot about here from him,” she said. “Because of what he said, I wanted to come. He said it was really nice here, so I wanted to see it.”
“I don’t think anywhere else would have done,” Coomer said. “Juan knew that the people of Barren County were open and receptive and he had such a good experience.”
Going to her first basketball game was Escudero’s favorite experience at the school and she said being in America has helped her English-speaking skills.
“I really liked going to the basketball games,” she said. “It’s a really big thing here, they play every Friday and everybody goes and dresses in the colors. I’ve been taking classes too. I have English class; I’ve been learning English since kindergarten. That’s also why I wanted to come here. We learn it, but we don’t have a lot of practice. Here, I have to practice.”
Coomer said the language can be a big barrier for students.
“I’ve had students who have been learning English for a while, come here and their English just froze,” she said.
Escudero added: “The first day, I couldn’t understand a lot. The words were in my head, but I couldn’t say them right.”
The language practice works both ways, as Stephanie Mattingly, host mother Sharon’s daughter, just started taking Spanish classes at the high school. The Chilean dialect and Mexican Spanish are a bit different, but the experience still helps, Stephanie said.
The two have become fast friends, thanks to the help of the Internet.
“We started e-mailing before she got here,” Stephanie said. “After the first time we talked I told my mom ‘Oh my gosh, she is just like me.’ I think that helped us know what to expect and not be afraid if we were going to get along. We already knew each other’s personalities.”
E-mailing and a cell phone, things her father didn’t have access to, are also helping Escudero keep in contact with her family back in Chile.
“I’m not sure her dad would have let her come without that cell phone,” Sharon Mattingly said. “It’s a big leap of faith to turn your 17-year-old loose in the world.”
Escudero might take that leap herself when she has kids.
“I think I’ll bring my children here,” she said. “It’s a really pretty place, it’s quiet, the people are friendly. I like the fields and the animals, it’s all very nice to look at.”
Escudero also enjoyed having her first bowl of chili — she pointed out that the dish is not available in Chile.
When she goes back home in a couple of weeks to start her senior year of high school, Escudero said she will take back the same view of the area that her father did.
Her host family will keep an open window to the world because of the experience.
“It really opens doors,” Coomer said. “Stephanie’s heard us talk about it all her life, but she really didn’t have this window on the world that she has now. It just opens up the world to you.”
“I just think it’s so neat having that second generation here,” Mattingly said. “I think that says so much about Barren County that someone would say ‘if you go to Barren County, then you can go.’ I don’t think anywhere else in Kentucky would have done. Juan knew that the people here were open and receptive. He experienced that and now Panchi has as well.”
