Submitted by Sarah Moses
Public Information Specialist
Pep rallies, spirit weeks, students showing off their B’ville pride and cheering on the home team are just a few of things that Diana Hoch will miss about C.W. Baker High School when she returns to Germany this week.
“It’s actually the school spirit that I’ll miss the most,” Diana said. She has been a student at the high school for nine months.
Diana, 16, is a part of the German American Partnership Program. She is the Baldwinsville Central School District’s first long-term exchange student from the program, according to German teacher Benjamin Gerardi. Gerardi is the GAPP advisor and American coordinator for the program.
During the 2018-2019 school year, Gerardi organized a short-term exchange program that welcomed 25 German students to Durgee Junior High School for two weeks. The students shadowed eighth- and ninth-graders at the school, were treated to American cuisine prepared by Baker students and visited several of Central New York’s most popular places, including Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Destiny USA and Onondaga Lake Park.
Diana was one of those students from Gymnasium Gaimersheim, the district’s partner school in Germany. When the opportunity came up to spend a full school year in Baldwinsville, Diana was excited to take the adventure.
“It has always been a dream of mine to visit the United States, especially New York and New York City,” Diana said. “I love experiencing new cultures and meeting new people.”
In Germany, Diana was set to enter her sophomore year, but when she came to Baldwinsville she was enrolled as a junior to give her more opportunities for courses.
“She challenged herself by coming to live here with a Baldwinsville family and is taking advanced courses, as well as switching between French, Spanish, English and German on a daily basis,” Gerardi said.
Diana said she loves her classes and the opportunity to take upper level French and Spanish courses. She especially loves her art classes.
“I have my art class every day,” she said. “In Germany I have art class once a week and our art projects are very small.”
During her first visit to Baldwinsville, Diana was paired with the Cartier family. Her host mom, Leslie Cartier, works in the Baker library. Diana said she was beyond excited to return to the family during this school year.
“Some people use the term ‘second home,’ but for me it’s just home,” Diana said. “I have two homes and two families now. It’s amazing. The whole family loves me, and I love the whole family. It’s going to be hard to leave them.”
Diana said she loves living with the Cartier family and loves the Baldwinsville community. She said one of her favorite things to do is walk the family’s dog around the neighborhood.
The Cartier family is extremely proud of Diana and will miss her tremendously.
“She’s sweet and so intelligence and mature for her age,” Leslie Cartier said. “She’s part of the family.”
Diana is from Bettbrunn, Germany, where she lives with her parents, younger sister and the family’s cat. She will return home on May 16 — five weeks earlier than planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even though her stay is being cut short, Diana said she is grateful to stay as long as she has because exchange students across the country were sent home early last month when the pandemic shut down in-person school sessions.
“I think I’ll miss the people that I‘ve met here the most,” she said. “In nine months, I got to form incredibly deep friendships and the connection I’ve already had with my host family became very strong. It’s hard to leave and I won’t be able to see all my friends again in person before I leave.”
Diana said her favorite thing about the Baldwinsville community is how welcoming it was to her. She’ll travel home with memories, life-long friendships and a new family. But there’s just one thing that she wishes she could bring home.
“Chick-fil-A … Germany needs a Chick-fil-A,” she laughed. “It’s so good.”
