| PHS graduate returns to share experiences |
| Tuesday, September 22, 2009 |
Amir Jafarian has been busy since he graduated from Pattonville High School in 2006. He recently returned to one of his former schools, Pattonville Heights Middle School, to speak to students about his experience studying abroad in Sevilla, Spain.
Jafarian currently attends the University of St. Louis-Missouri, pursuing a major in international business, with a minor in Spanish. He spent a semester in Sevilla, Spain, as part of a program through his universityi. He plans to travel to the Middle East next summer to learn Farsi, a language widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikstan.
Pattonville Heights Foreign Language Teacher Chris Benbow hosted Jafarian's visit.
Benbow said Jafarian talked about "trying new things that interest you, even if they are different from what you may have traditionally believed to be your interests in the past." As an example, he said Jafarian took German while at Heights with another teacher, Peter Schmoeker, but his interests changed when he reached high school, where he took Spanish.
"He also spoke about the importance of seeing things from another perspective and both the similarities and the differences between American and Spanish culture," Benbow said. "It was really a nice talk for the kids."
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