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By CHARLOT M. DENMON
Staff Correspondent ;
Seventeen-year-old Sonsoles Seoane, a June
graduate from a Madrid, Spain High School, has
been in the United States less than two weeks,
but she is amazed at the size of the country and
many nationalities.
Sonsoles, “‘Sunny’’ as she is called by most of
her friends, lives in Madrid, Spain, with her
parents and three of her four sisters and two
brothers. Her fourth sister is married and lives
in the Sudan with her husband.
Sunny graduated from a high school similar to
the schools in the United States except that it
was an all-girl school until after 11th grade. In
12th grade, the class was coed because the
students spent that year studying in preparation
for college.
Having heard and read so much about Amer-
ica, Sunny’s dream was to visit the states so
when she learned about the American Institute
for Foreign Study, with an office in Connecticut,
she’ applied to the organization hoping to be
accepted. In order to qualify, Sunny had to have
grades above a certain average and also had to
pass an English grammar test. Since she was a
4.0 student and, in addition to studying English
in school, had been tutored in English privately
for eight years, Sunny had no problem.
Sunny received word from the AIFS that she
was among 400 Spanish students who were
accepted to come to the United States. She met
with the other students in Madrid where they
stayed together for two days attending orienta-
tion sessions before flying to America. They left
Spain on August 22 and arrived at John F.
Kennedy Airport on August 24. From there,
Sunny flew by Allegheny Commuter to Wilkes-
Barre Scranton Airport, where she was met by
her host American family, Mr. and Mrs. Rich-
ard Mekeel of Dallas.
“I wanted to come to the States to learn
whether all the things I had heard were so. I
always heard that in America everyone wore
jeans, eats hamburgs and ice cream,” said
Sunny. “I always wanted to repeat my senior
year in an American high school because I want
to be an attorney and I believe a year in an
American high school will help me in scoring
high on my SAT tests. My father and my sister
are lawyers and one day I want to practice
International Law.”
Sunny’s first disappointment in America came
when she tried to enroll at Dallas High School
and she was refused by District Superintendent
Gerald Wycallis. When asked why he refused ‘the
young Spanish girl, Wycallis said that the board
of directors voted to accept only students from
four exchange programs — Rotary Exchange,
American Foreign Service, Holland Foreign
Exchange and American Academic Foreign
Exchange, despite the fact that the AIFS is a
federally-funded exchange program.
Sunny, however, was not disappointed for
long, because she applied to Lake-Lehman
where she was readily admitted and worked out
a schedule with the senior high school guidance
counselor.
An outstanding basketball player at her alma
mater in Madrid, Sunny hopes to be able to play
at Lake-Lehman. She also hopes to go skiing
during the winter.
The high school student is a seasoned traveler,
having visited many of the countries in Europe
in order to further her education. She enjoys
learning about the cultures of other countries.
She says the Italians and Spanish people are
very close because many of their customs and
their language is very similar, although she
than the Spanish.
Sunny was amazed when she landed in New
York and saw the size of the city and many
nationalities. Although she saw only Manhattan,
Chinatown, Greenwich Village and Little Italy
before she left for the local area, she said the
people reminded her of a ‘little world” because
there were so many different types of people.
The homes here are very different from where
she lives in Madrid. The Seone family, brothers,
sisters, parents, aunts and uncles, cousins and
grandparents, live in a large family complex —
one huge building with all relatives having their
own apartments in the building. In Spain, she
said, there are many farms in the rural areas
and in the southern part there are many
vineyards and wineries, and the people live on
plantation-type property. In the north, most of
the large factories and industries are located.
Sunny said there is no comparison in the food.
“At home we don’t eat ‘junk’ food — no pizza,
hot dogs and such,” she said. ‘My mother
makes fresh food every day and we eat at
regular times. We have coffee and toast every
morning for breakfast; at 2:30 we have our
lunch or dinner, our main meal; and between 9
and 10 p.m., we have supper, a light meal, but
no ‘‘fast’ food.
Although in America approximately two
weeks, Sunny has found the recreation different.
In Spain at age 16 young people could go to the
pubs and at age 18 they could go out in the late
evening. They have no drive-in theatres and they
can’t drive until they are 18 yedrs.of age.
“The main difference,” said Sunny, “is that in
Spain most everyone is Catholic. There are no
sexual relationships until after marriage, not
like in America.” Her general impression to
date is that the young people in America are less
mature than in Spain.
Although looking forward to attending Lake-
Lehman High School, Sunny was a little appre-
hensive about whether or not the students would
accept her. But if Dobermans are good judges of
people, there is no doubt that Sunny will be a
success in America for the two owned by the
Mekeels have become her friends.
THE DALLAS POST/Wednesday, September 10, 1986
Dallas Post/Charlot M. Denmon :
International friends
Spanish exchange student Sonsoles Seone takes time out
to pose with Mrs. Richard Mekeel, of Dallas, with whom she
is staying while in the United States. With Sonsoles are the
Mekeel’s two Dobermans both of whom have become the
student’s friends.
An anniversary celebration will
be held by Dallas Baptist Church on
September 14, 1986.
A small group of believers began
services formally as Dallas Baptist
Chapel on July 31, 1966. As the Lord
blessed their efforts, the chapel was
constituted into the Dallas Baptist
this time they began meeting in a
church building on Mill St., Dallas,
until September, 1981 when the con-
gregation relocated into their newly
constructed building on Route 415,
Idetown.
This 17th anniversary as a consti-
tuted church will be held at their
present location. The services will
begin with the regularly scheduled
Sunday School and worship service
beginning att 9:45 a.m. and 11 a.m.
respectively.
Immediately following the morn-
ing services, there will be a church-
wide dinner and time of fellowship
and games. A special praise service
will be held at 3 p.m., thanking God
for His blessings and direction.
"These services will be led by
Pastor David R. Penley.
The Donegal Society of Greater
Wilkes-Barre is sponsoring a contest
for single girls, age 18 to 24 years
who reside in the Northeastern
Pennsylvania region. The contes-
tants must have reached their 18th
birthday before July 31, 1987 and not
have reached their 25th birthday
of the contestants’ parents must be
of Irish descent. This not a talent
contest.
Marriage
licenses
(The following Back Mountain
residents have applied for Marriage
Licenses at the Luzerne County
Courthouse: )
GREGORY KEITH SIMMS, RD 2,
Dallas, and KERRIE LYN DAVIS,
Box 91N, Sweet Valley.
ORVILLE IDE, RD 4, Dallas, and
JOAN P. LANGDON, 31 Brookside
St., Wilkes-Barre.
RICKY J. CISNEY, 39 Hilltop Dr.,
RD 1, Dallas, and JOYCE LEE
HARGER, 401 Bennett St., Luzerne.
ROBERT GRAZIANO, RD 1, Box
830A, Lake Ariel, and EDITH JEN-
NINGS, 56 Shaver Ave., Shaver-
town.
JOSEPH A. GALAZIN, 585 Cigar-
ski Rd., Shavertown, and JUDITH
STEELE, 262 E. Main St.,, Plym-
outh.
WAYNE GOLIGHTLEY, 114
Weavertown Rd., Shavertown, and
JAYNE JONES, 589 Carey Ave.,
Wilkes-Barre.
ROBERT A. SUPEY, 217 Orchard
St., Exeter, and DIANE C.
WOJTOWICZ, Box 239, Follies Rd.,
Dallas.
MICHAEL SHAROK, JR. 179
Green St., Edwardsville, to MILLI-
CENT J. KOCHER, RD 2, Box 388,
Dallas.
DAVID ASHTON, Box 196, RD 4,
Dallas, to KIM TURNER, RD 3,
Box 237, Dallas.
ALLEN KIDD, JR. Box 266, RD 1,
West Pittston, to DEBRA FULLER,
Box 235, RD 3, Dallas.
WEST VALLEY BAPTIST CHURCH
421 Memorial Hwy.
Dallas, PA
Tel. 639-2599
COME & GROW WITH US!
The final selection will be made at
Wilkes-Barre, on Friday evening,
Nov. 7, 1986. The winner will receive
an all expenses paid week-long trip
to Ireland in July, 1987 and will be
entered in the International Mary
from Dungloe Contest, County Done-
gal, Ireland. An all expenses paid
chaperone.
All contestants will be required to
appear at the Donegal Ball in
November. Contestants will also be
required to be available for inter-
views by judges preceding the Ball.
The winner of the contest must be
available for the one-week trip to
the Dungloe Festival in late July or
early - August of 1987... . .;
Maureen Monahan of Mountaintop
was last year’s winner. and
appeared at the Dungloe Festival
this past July.
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