"You Made Me One of You"

From the type of crowd assembled in the auditorium of the Farragut Elementary School, it was obvious how Culver City, Calif. (pop. 31,000) felt about the evening's guest of honor. In the front of the hall sat the mayor, flanked by members of the city government, and behind them were many of the leading citizens in town. All in all, in a city whose best-known industry is moviemaking (M-G-M), it was a turnout worthy of a national celebrity--and not just an 18-year-old student of Culver City High.

To the assembled citizens, however, Gundolf Goethel has been no ordinary student. The son of an industrial chemist of Oberhausen, Germany, he is one of 265 boys and girls brought over last fall to the U.S. by the American Field Service (originally founded to sponsor wartime ambulance work). Last week, as the town got together to bid him goodbye, it was also paying tribute to an effective, privately run good-will program which is an important part of the U.S. answer to Communist attempts to capture the world's student generation (see above).

Crazy Sports Shirt. Picked from 16,000 applicants from West Germany, Gundolf arrived in August, was made to feel at home right from the start. His hosts were Mr. and Mrs. John Morley, who had volunteered to adopt an exchange student for a year because "there was little enough we could do to help out in this world." Since then, Gundolf has been a member of the family. "Can you imagine" says he, "I have one of their rooms and all their food and they give me presents. These denims I'm wearing, and this, how you say, crazy sports shirt. I never got the idea of being homesick."

At school, the story was the same. "The students knew I was from a different country, and at first they didn't know what to do with me. Then they began coming up and trying to help." They asked him to join the Tillicums ("That's the Y.M.C.A. club"). Then they invited him into the camera and the science clubs. At the end of his first semester, they decided to run him for office. "Since they encouraged me, I ran for president of the Boys' League, and surprisingly, I was elected. I felt that the students made me one fellow among many students, and not just one foreigner alone. Soon I was working with them and playing with them, and there was no difference at all."

Extra-Curriculums. As the year wore on, Gundolf's career moved with it. He won his letter in track, was elected to the senior honor society and the student council, earned straight A's in his subjects. He also learned about U.S. schools: "The students, most of them go to school to learn something. But there are so many that go just because they have to. In Germany, you don't have to go to high school. It's a privilege. Here there might be too much emphasis on activities and extra-curriculums."

Last week, at the big "Gundolf Send-Off," Culver City presented its visitor with a proclamation of friendship to take back to Oberhausen. Then, dressed in his best double-breasted suit. Gundolf said a few words of his own: "Everybody opened his door and I was welcomed into every house. You made me one of you."

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