- March 28, 2024
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Mark Thanapornsin arrived from Ubon, Thailand, to Palm Coast, Aug. 14. To begin his yearlong stay in America, he had a welcoming party at Woody’s Bar-B-Q.
For 17-year-old foreign exchange student Mark Thanapornsin, leaving his home in Ubon, Thailand, to spend a year in Palm Coast, was nerve-racking. But it’s turning out to be worth the butterflies, if only for the girls he’s meeting in school.
His host parents, Cindy and John Kelley teased him at the dining room table. His first day of school, he ate lunch with a girl, they said, then another the next day. This afternoon, Aug. 30, when they asked him whom he ate with, his answer was short, but sweet: “Many.”
So far, Mark says he’s enjoying America.
For years, the Flagler County Rotary Club has not participated in the exchange program, explained Jay Mills, club coordinator. But when he was asked if he would find a family for Mark, who had already arranged with the Ubon Rotary to come to Florida, Mills couldn’t say no.
“It’s a great program, and one I think Rotary should always be in. It’s part of the international spirit (of the club),” he says.
Following an announcement at their church, the Kelleys volunteered, as did two other local families, who will host Mark January through August.
With his two “sisters,” Libby and Allie, Mark attends Flagler Palm Coast High, which so far is one of the greatest differences he has noticed from his hometown.
He says he has already graduated from high school in Thailand, where students take 20 different courses per week, instead of the five-class rotation he’s in here. His school was also larger, with about 8,000 students, and in grade 10, everyone chose a study focus, which determined the rest of the course load.
When he returns to Thailand, he plans to go to college for engineering.
“It’s a lifelong relationship,” John Kelley says of the foreign exchange dynamic.
In Vermont, where the Kelleys used to live, they had a Korean student from their daughters’ Christian school live with them for a year. Over time, the student began feeling like a son to them, and a brother.
“I like that he becomes part of the family,” Cindy Kelley said, laughing at how Mark has called every dinner she has made so far his favorite, how he hates pickles and puts A1 Steak Sauce on everything.
At some point, her husband added, they’ll travel to Korea, and to Thailand, to see in person exactly where their kids grew up.
“We can see ourselves with them forever,” he said.
Contact Mike Cavaliere at [email protected].