This school year, St. Charles High is home to many exchange students from various countries and cultures. Ilayda Akyildiz from Germany, Miriam Axinte from Italy, and Angelica Barbieri from Italy are all exchange students.
Akyildiz is a junior from Germany who arrived in the United States this school year. Akyildiz chose to study in the United States because she wanted to improve her English skills and experience American culture. There are many differences between Akyildiz’s school at home in Germany and St. Charles High. She believes people here are more outgoing and the school experience at St. Charles High is overall more open.
“School here is more flexible and offers more extracurricular activities. In my home country, school is usually more focused on academics and there are fewer clubs and sports teams,” Akyildiz said.
Akyildiz is enjoying the creativity and variety of choices with the schedules here, specifically her Photography class.
“I enjoy being creative and learning how to use a professional camera. The most challenging part is understanding all the technical settings, but it’s also very fun,” Akyildiz added. Many of the subjects at SCHS are new to Ilayada such as Food Fundamentals and Photography.
Miriam Axinte is another exchange student from Italy. She has been a student at St. Charles High since the start of the 2025-2026 school year. Axinte decided to come to the United States for various reasons.
“I chose the United States because it has many different cultures and good schools,” Axinte said. She was also looking to improve her English skills.
There were things that came as a surprise to Axinte when she arrived at St. Charles High.
“I was surprised by how open and friendly people are. I was also surprised by how important school sports are,” Axinte added.
She sees St. Charles High School as more laid back compared to schools in Italy. From her point of view, teachers are more friendly and communicative. There are classes at SCHS that are different from the ones in Italy that Axinte enjoys.
“Science and Photography have been very interesting because I can learn about experiments, and how to take pictures.”
Axinte has described being an exchange student at SCHS as “exciting, challenging, and unforgettable.”
