Lea Birnbacher, 16, will take part in commencement ceremonies May 26 at Seneca Valley High School along with her senior classmates, but she won't get a diploma.

Lea Birnbacher, 16, will take part in commencement ceremonies May 26 at Seneca Valley High School along with her senior classmates, but she won't get a diploma. That's because the exchange student from Spain has two more years of high school to complete once she's home in Barcelona.

But Lea doesn't mind that the classes she's taken at Seneca Valley don't translate into credits toward her own graduation.

“It really doesn't matter because the personal growth and experience is much more important to me,” said Lea.

Lea is the latest exchange student placed at Seneca Valley through the Rotary Youth Exchange program of the Rotary Club of Zelienople.

“We've been involved with the Rotary Youth Exchange for a long time,” said Lisa Andressi, director of communications for the school district. “It depends on the interest. Some years we have one student, some years we have several.”

This year, Lea is the sole exchange student arriving in August to stay with her host parents, Pastor Reid Moon and his wife, Krista of Zelienople.

The Reds had an exchange student living with them in 2001-2002.

Krista Reid said, “They (the Zelienople Rotary Club) were trying to do a foreign exchange student, and they knew we had experience.”

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