Cardinal O’Hara welcomes exchange students in its ‘family’

TONAWANDA — Exchange students display enormous courage and determination to leave their homes to study in the United States with only a minimal understanding of English. At Cardinal O’Hara High School, three exchange students are facing these challenges and receiving the benefits.

Freshman Hangwei Zhang and sophomore JianYu (Vincent) Wang, both from China, are joined by Eser Celik, a freshman, from Turkey.

Although Hangwei and JianYu share a common language, they live in different parts of China and only met at Cardinal O’Hara.

Eser, who speaks Turkish, finds it more difficult to connect with American counterparts, although, thanks to his cell phone he can share the knowledge of Turkey with pictures and a translation program.

“I miss friends,” Eser said. In Turkey, students remain in one classroom and teachers move from class to class.

“It is easy to know others if you are together all day,” he said. “We attend school for a full year. Desks are for two, so you have a good friend.”

Eser is also a chess star and a member of the O’Hara Chess Club, a soccer player and a pianist for the Concert Band, having played piano in Turkey.

“We play chess for money,” he smiled, “and will spend three hours playing on the phone.”

Eser lives with his brother Ozan Celik and his wife. He misses his mother’s cooking, especially her homemade yogurt and lamb doner. Doner, a seasoned meat stacked in the shape of an inverted cone is turned slowly on a rotisserie, next to a vertical cooking element. The operator uses a knife to slice thin shavings from the outer layer of the meat as it cooks.

Hangwei, who lives with Rick Otts’ family in Tonawanda, said the five-day school week in China keeps students in class from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. with an additional study on Sunday.

“We study hard in China,” he said.

At O’Hara, he is a member of the soccer and basketball teams.

Sandra Cunningham’s family in Tonawanda, is the host family for Vincent Wang. As far as missing authentic Chinese food, Vincent said there is a Chinese restaurant near the State University at Buffalo that’s “not bad.”

“We are happy that Mr. (Mark) Huoh (O’Hara’s director of Technology,) takes us to church on Sunday,” Vincent said.

Hangwei added that O’Hara students, especially students on his sports team, help him learn English.

“It is difficult to learn English, especially students from China,” Cheryl Steingasser, O’Hara’s ESL teacher said.

“The boys show up to class ready to work on whatever task I ask them to do. They are very polite and respectful. They try there best and that’s all I can ask for,” she added.

Principal Joleen Dimitroff added, “We are thrilled to have Vincent, Hangwei and Eser as part of our O’Hara Family. Having foreign exchange students here enriches our community in so many ways. They bring diverse perspectives and create lifelong connections among our students. This program not only broadens horizons but also prepares all of our students for success in a global society.”