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Noora Hautamaki, a foreign exchange student from Finland who is living in Soledad for a year, holds the U.S. flag. Below, Hautamaki runs for Soledad High School.
SOLEDAD — Soledad High School has welcomed foreign exchange student Noora Hautamaki from Finland for the year.
Hautamaki is a senior who participates in cross country and track and field. She is living with a local host family who has been involved with the foreign exchange student program before.
Janelle and Brady Cab are part of Hautamaki’s host family.
Hautamaki says the school system is different in Finland and sports like track and field aren’t really part of the school.
“I still have plans to continue and hopefully compete internationally,” Hautamaki said.
This year of school in Soledad doesn’t count for Hautamaki, who upon her return to Finland will have two more years of schooling in order to graduate.
“School here is a lot easier,” she said. “For us the mandatory school is only nine years and then we can go to upper secondary, gymnasium or practical, which is a three-year school after that.”
From there, Hautamaki would go to university or polytechnic schooling.
“The school that I go to is more like college already,” Hautamaki said.
She also is absorbing the culture, visiting Florida over Christmas break. Locally she and her host family have traveled to Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Francisco and Salinas.
Hautamaki heads back to Finland at the end of June. She is still looking forward to her senior trip with Soledad High School to Universal Studios.
“I’ve never really been to Los Angeles or that area and I would also really like to go down and visit San Diego,” she said.
