We Say Good-Bye to Felipe

While most boarding students at the Academy are here for at least two and sometimes three and four years others come for a shorter period of time. Felipe Noschese came to us in August from his home in Brazil and his studies in Germany with a desire to study for one semester at an American private school while living with an American family.

With some encouragement from our girls who always said they wanted a “tall dark handsome Brazilian boy” to live with us and no room in our dorms Dottie and I invited Felipe to live with us for the semester. We had always said we would never have boys living with us while we had girls living with us, but we made an exception and it was one of the best decision we have ever made – largely due to Felipe’s courteous, polite and respectful attitude towards us and our threee girls.

Felipe was not only a great student, but he brought a wonderful sense of humor to our home. He loved teasing the girls at dinner, particularly Hae-Jin who would always respond “really” to Felipe’s tall tale’s from Brazil, including his surfing with shark stories. As a going away gift the three girls bought him 3 Shrek dolls appropriately named Seulki, Hae-Jin and Won. Diana who was living with us at the beginning of the year also gave him a special gift from China made by her mom.

The girls as well as Dottie and I miss Felipe, particularly at dinner time where his diet of a plain hamburger with no ketchum or any other topping was standard fare and his “thank you” with a little hand gesture – which was Brazilian for “no thank you”, still has the girls imitating him each evening. See more pictures from January.