Leonardo Ponte Planas is an exchange student from Italy and a senior at John Adams High School. He came to America for the American experience and to be able to speak and understand English clearly. Being able to go to an American high school is very exciting for him and so far he is enjoying  his time here. He really likes his life as an exchange student in America, because everyday is special and exciting. 

After the first few weeks in America, his communication skills got better and better and now he does not have any problems understanding things in school. His high school life here is a little bit more difficult because he will miss a school year in Italy and have to go back and do all  his classes next year back in Italy.

In the fall season he joined the tennis team and played in some tournaments for our school. He enjoyed  tennis practice after school because it was a good opportunity to meet new people and  practice after school was relaxing for him. Unfortunately, Leo had a short tennis season because he missed the pre-season and the start of the first few practices, as he didn’t arrive on time. 

Leonardo joined the swimming team in the winter season and is enjoying the beginning of the season. This time he started with the team in the preseason and was on the swim team at the beginning. He said swimming is the hardest thing he has done since he arrived in America, because he has  two practices a day.  Despite that he is  still excited for the competitions and looking forward to a really nice season.

Understandably, he misses his home country, with the amazing food and his friends from Italy and sometimes wishes they could be  here. But fortunately, he has met many new people here and he is happy to stay this year with his host family. He said he loves everything about the U.S. flag and his pronouns are “U.S.A.” To summarize he really likes being in America and enjoys his high school life in South Bend, Indiana.