PHOTOS:
The Nicolino family (Sebastian, Pedro, Paulina and Natalia) with host moms, Wilma Raynor and Shelly Brenner.
Sebastian's decades-long wish come true. Breakfast again at Mrs. J's.
On New Year's Eve 2023, OHS 1997 class members meet again.
Center court on December 27, 2023 at OHS following basketball game between Orrville and Wooster.
Yes, you can come home again!
Argentine native Sebastian Nicolino, Orrville Rotary Club's 1996-1997 youth exchange student, had often said of Orrville: "This is my hometown". Having served as a diplomat at the Argentinian Embassy in Paraguay, then in Nairobi Kenya and currently living in Manhattan NYC with his wife and children and is engaged as a diplomat at the Argentine Mission to the United Nations where Sebastián "gets the chance to negotiate on behalf of Argentina and meet people from around the world." Wife Natalia serves as diplomat at the Argentine Consulate where she promotes trade and culture wile assisting the Argentine and other communities.
With a span of 25 years having elapsed since his youth exchange experience and now living in the USA, Sebastian seized upon the opportunity to revisit Orrville with his wife and children Pedro, a fifth grader, and Paulina, a sixth grade middle schooler. Eager to reunite with long ago host parents Shelly Brenner and Wilma Raynor, the long-awaited was, to say the least, deeply emotional and joyous. Graciously housed by Shelly and husband Bruce Kohler, the Nicolinos were content to enjoy favored company and had no desire to venture away from Orrville to take in the sights of larger, more popular locales. During their six day stay there was never a shortage of hosts and guests sharing love, laughter, reminiscing, reconnecting and rediscovering the changes and staples in Orrville. A simple highlight for Pedro and Paulina was an excursion with Shelly to Game Stop and to Walmart - a store that the youngsters had heard about but never visited.
As the Nicolino family visit neared an end, Sebastian was fervent in expressing his gratefulness for the support of former host parents Cindy and Jeff Bowman family; the OHS staff for its welcoming introduction at the recent Red Riders vs. Wooster basketball game; the members of the OHS class of 1997 to visited Sebastian during his "hometown" visit and, lastly, to our community members who welcomed and supported his youth exchange as a teenager a quarter of a century ago, during which Sebastian genuinely believes the positive experience "helped shape his life in a very positive way in becoming the man he is today." To the Nicolino family.....thanks for the memories. It was a blast!