Fate Intervenes
As the coronavirus pandemic swept across his homeland, Paolo Bongiovanni worried for his 17-year-old daughter, Elena, who was attending high school in the United States as an exchange student in Butler.
His native Italy was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and Bongiovanni knew it was just a matter of time before it ravaged America too.
“At first, it wasn't easy,” Bongiovanni said, his 21-year-old daughter, Giulia, translating for him. “But thankfully, we could see that she was safe and happy surrounded by a loving and caring family.”
Elena had the option of returning home.
She declined.
Elena didn't want to give up. She didn't want to let the coronavirus win. She wanted to see things through to the end.
Since she arrived, she has made lifelong friends.
She has found a new “U.S. family,” as she calls it, in Jon and Kathryn Smail and their two daughters, Julianya, 9, and Karolyne, 7 — her Butler hosts.
And Elena said she wouldn't trade what she has experienced — even the hardships of COVID-19 — for anything.
“I met amazing people,” Elena said. “I'm very happy I decided to come here. (It has been) probably better than what I could have imagined.”
Elena will finally return home June 21 after a 10-month odyssey no one could have predicted.
She will take with her the memories of a time spent in a foreign land during a global crisis.
Not quite like 'High School Musical'
Elena stepped off the plane and into the United States on Aug. 13.Her heart hammered inside her chest and her mind buzzed with the thrill of the unknown.Elena was no stranger to travel. Her family had taken many trips to other parts of Europe as well as excursions to Africa and Australia.When Elena's father wed her mother, Monica Luccherino, they honeymooned in the United States.But this was different; Elena had never set foot on U.S. soil before.Four days later, she was in Butler meeting her host family for the first time and settling into a new land and a new culture.“I don't even know what I was expecting,” Elena said. “I was afraid because I wasn't sure if I was going to make friends.”She made two pretty quickly.Julianya and Karolyne immediately took to their new foreign guest and Elena felt as though she had gained two more sisters.“They are loud,” Elena said, laughing, “but I love them.”Elena decided to do her studies in the United States because of what she saw on television and in the movies.The America depicted on the small and big screen intrigued her.Elena wanted to see what all the fuss was about.During her first few days at Butler High School, she snapped a picture of a row of lockers and sent it home to her friends in Italy.They responded, “Oh my gosh, just like in the movies!”
But it wasn't exactly like it was on screen.Pretty close, though.“Except for not breaking into song,” Elena said, laughing, “like in 'High School Musical.'”Elena was adjusting well to her new environment. Even eating lunch at school in a crowded cafeteria — something she never did in Italy — was no big deal anymore.Then, the normalcy Elena had found in the United States was thrown into chaos by COVID-19.'Then, that was it'Back in Italy, Elena was a track and field athlete — even though her technical high school, where she studied math and science, offered no sports.She ran for one of the many club teams around her hometown in the Liguria region of Italy, nestled near the Ligurian Sea on the country's West Coast.When she got to Butler High School, she was eager to join the track team for the Golden Tornado. She was also fired up to try another sport: lacrosse.“I was very excited because we don't have lacrosse,” Elena said, eyes brightening. “We played one game and it wasn't a real game.“Then,” she said, a frown creasing her face, “that was it.”Her track season was lost. So too was her first taste of her new sport.“I was very sad,” she said. “I was excited for track and lacrosse and prom and graduation, all those things.”Elena did get at least one snippet of normalcy this spring: Butler's annual Sadie Hawkins Dance.Even that, however, became splendidly unusual.
Elena became close friends with the other foreign exchange student at Butler, Salome Gvirjishvili from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, and the Smails had hosted another foreign student two years earlier — Rasita Sitthidachakul from Thailand.Rasita happened to be in town visiting and Elena invited her to the dance.Throw in Butler senior Mikayla Bernhard, and Kathryn Smail, who is a Multiple Disabilities Support Teacher at Butler Middle School, had a mini-United Nations on-hand that evening.“There were four girls from four different countries in our living room,” Smail said. “How special was that?”Salome returned to Georgia just before Easter.Elena decided to remain. She is now finishing up her studies online and missing her friends.She still speaks with them via social media and on FaceTime.It's not the same.Elena feels a void. Her experience sadly incomplete.How does she cope?“'Grey's Anatomy' has helped,” Kathryn joked. “She's binged all the seasons now. We watched all the Marvel movies in order. We've probably watched more TV in the last two months than we have in the last nine years.”It's not the way Elena wanted to spend her last months as a student in the United States.She shrugged when she was asked if it bothers her that she didn't get to finish her adventure the way she wanted.There's not much she can do about it, she said.She does have one big fear.“I don't want to leave without saying goodbye,” she said.Kathryn shook her head.“You won't,” she said firmly. “We'll make sure of that. You won't leave without saying goodbye.”The big farewell
Paolo Bongiovanni held his tongue.He wanted to ask his daughter to return home when the coronavirus hit.But he refrained.“We are proud of her,” he said. “Proud of how she lived all her experience through this difficult time.“We miss our daughter a lot,” he added. “But we supported her when she wanted to leave to study in America and we supported her decision to stay during the coronavirus lockdown (because) we believe that every experience is a milestone for the building of her character and her spirit as a brilliant young woman.”Elena misses her parents, too.She worries about them often and talks to them once a week to see how they are doing. They assure her they are OK, but she wants to see for herself.She also misses Giulia.When she returns home in June, she'll have to stay in quarantine for 14 days.She hopes she can spend that time at home, but there are no guarantees.Elena does know that when she leaves the United States, it will make her sad.“It's going to be hard,” she said. “Very hard.”It's also going to be difficult for the Smails.Kathryn Smail is already planning on purchasing a boarding pass, so she can see Elena to the gate at the airport when she leaves.“There's going to be a lot of tears,” Smail said. “We're going to be crying, bawling our eyes out. A piece of my heart is going to be getting on that plane in June. It's going to hurt.”The Smails plan on visiting Elena in Italy — some day. They are not sure when.Elena already cannot wait.Then, both of her families will be with her at once.On one continent.“They welcomed me very well,” Elena said of the Smails. “I feel a part of their family. I am going to miss them so much.”
