Carterville High School sophomore Sophia Maring was recently accepted to participate in the Youth Foreign Exchange program through Carterville’s Rotary  Club beginning July of 2018. Sophia’s anticipation for positive news follows her months of applying and paperwork. Sophia began the applying process her freshman year and received a phone call of acceptance in September 2017. She described the process as “stressful but rewarding”. Although she had been accepted, she wasn’t informed on what country she would live in for a year during her exchange. She highly anticipated another call sometime in early January about news of what country she would travel to in a few months. To Sophia’s surprise she received the call on December 2017. “I’m going to Chile!” Sophia exclaimed. She will receive more information about her exchange in the coming months. “I have always wanted to travel the world. I’m so excited for this amazing opportunity to experience culture and daily life in Chile,” Sophia stated when asked about her upcoming exchange. As a school, we are very excited to be represented by Sophia in Chile. We hope she has a very successful year on her exchange.