Ilion High School - Class of 1974

Source pdf file is here Herkimer NY Evening Telegram 1973 02014.pdf on fultonhistory.com

Waits For Snow Small Lakes Delight New Exchange Student

ILION - Marco Corcuera, 17, foreign exchange student to Ilion from Peru, said today he is delighted by the many small lakes be has seen since his arrival in the Mohawk Valley area a few days ago.

"In my country, we have no little lakes, except in the mountains, where there are only bad roads to get to them. So, we go to the seashore."

Slight, dark, with a quick smile, Marco is guest of Mr. and Mrs. William Gamage, and their daughter, Marilyn, 14, under the sponsorship of the Ilion Chapter of the American Field Service. Gamage is a technical consultant with UNIVAC, Utica.

Marco said he can hardly wait for winter to arrive. The reason: he has never handled snow or ice. although he has seen it atop mountains near Trujillo, Peru, a city of 100,000 where he lives.

The Gamages promised to teach Marco ice skating, since their home, 126 Elm St., is alongside the Hunt’s Field skating rink, a favorite gathering place for local skaters.

Marco will enroll as a senior at Ilion High School, returning to Peru next June where he will enter the National University of Trujillo. He hopes for a career in the diplomatic service.

With an eye toward such a life's work, Marco thinks he might some day land back in America He has studied English in school for 45 minutes daily for the past 10 years.

"We have no communications problems," Mrs. Gamage said of his English. "His English is just great."

However, Marco said he hopes the year locally will make him really fluent with the language. His father is a civil lawyer, and his mother a housewife. He has three younger brothers.

If Marco finds free time on his hands after his local studies, he brought along plenty of hobbies. Stamps, coins, and music records are among his collections.

As for the remainder of his spare time, Marco acknowledges that he loves to eat. He said he loves all the American foods, and has no favorites.

Mrs. Gamage said the only food Marco doesn't like is carrots, so there's not much problem. "The one difficulty is that Marco is used to having two meals a day, a big lunch and big supper at about 7, while we in America have three meals a day."

She is amused because so far he hasn't been able to adjust to the light American lunches Marco thinks it might take him a week or two to adjust.

Inflation, and meat shortages plague Peru families just as in America, Marco reported. For example, beef is only available for 15 days out of each month, and chicken and pork the remainder of the month.

However, pollution doesn't seem to be much of a problem as Peru is still primarily agricultural rather than industrial, be explained.

"My hosts have promised to teach me water skiing," he smiled. "I can hardly wait to get started."