THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509130149
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By SHIRLEY BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
THREE HIGH school seniors, who met recently for the first time, will board a plane together soon for a to Great Britain.
Tina Gwaltney of Lakeland High School, Robin Renee Riddick of Nansemond-Suffolk Academy and Andrea Dalla Villa of Nansemond River High School are excited about the prospects of meeting new people and discovering the differences in culture.
Representing Suffolk's high schools, the teens have been selected to participate in the student exchange program, sponsored by the Sister Cities Commission, the Pilot Club of Suffolk and the Suffolk Lions Club.
As goodwill ambassadors for the City of Suffolk, they will visit Suffolk County, England, from Sept. 23 through Oct. 7.
The honor students attended a reception recently at Riddick's Folly to become acquainted with each other and to learn more about their overseas itinerary.
``We are going to live with families in Suffolk,'' Andrea said, ``and I want to learn as much about them as possible. It will also give me a chance to see if I like being on my own . . . if I want to go away to college.''
The girls received a biographical sketch of their host families and were asked to present a poster and give a presentation on the City of Suffolk during their visit.
Chatting among themselves, the girls expressed a desire to tour London and wondered aloud if they would see much of each other while staying in separate homes.
``We'll probably tour together,'' Robin said. ``Our host families will meet us in London and we were told we may tour some castles, and Harrod's, the largest department store in London.''
To be considered for the all-expenses-paid trip, each school asked its students to write an essay. After judging them, members of the Commission invited several teens to an interview.
``I was one of four at Nansemond River to be interviewed,'' Andrea said. ``I never thought I would be chosen, and when they told me I was, I started crying.''
Younger than most of her class peers, 16-year-old Andrea attended summer school last year and skipped the 10th grade.
She began dancing lessons at the age of 3 and has attended the Governor's Magnet School for the past three years. As a member of ``Charisma,'' a private dance company, she has performed in productions at Chrysler Hall.
Andrea's plans for the future include majoring in psychology in college and later, working with children.
She is the daughter of Emil Dalla Villa of Chesapeake and Connie Lewis of Suffolk.
The trip to England will be the second overseas venture for Tina Gwaltney in the past few months. She was one of seven students in her Spanish IV class to spend 10 days in southern Spain.
``I've always liked to travel,'' she said, ``and England is rich in history, architecture and art. I want to visit an English school.''
To learn more about that area of the world, Tina, 17, consulted her home computer.
``It gave me a general overview of the United Kingdom,'' she said. ``I learned that the weather in September is in the 50s and that over half the days are overcast. We'll have to keep umbrellas and raincoats with us.''
Tina received a letter recently from Emma Delf, a teenager in her host family, and followed up with a phone call.
``I'll stay with Emma and her mother, Valerie, in the fishing village of Lowestoft . . . the eastern-most point of England,'' Tina said.
Interested in a career as a physical therapist, Tina worked as a junior volunteer in the physical therapy department at Southampton Memorial Hospital last summer.
``I helped with exercises that patients were familiar with and got to see what I would be doing as a therapist,'' she said.
The daughter of Steve and Sharon Gwaltney, Tina is a member of the Beta and Interact clubs and the academic team at Lakeland. She also is a volunteer with the Carrsville Volunteer Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary.
When a recent fire alarm came in at 3 a.m., Tina and her mother drove to the site and supplied cold drinks and wet towels for the firemen throughout the night.
``At 6:30 a.m., we got food for them,'' she said. ``We finally got back home at 8 a.m.''
Robin Riddick, 17, has plans to cross the Atlantic twice in the next seven months. As a member of the Student Exchange Club, she will spend two weeks in Norway in the spring while 15 Norwegian students simultaneously visit Suffolk schools.
``I've never been to a foreign country,'' she said, ``and I'm interested in seeing different cultures. I've learned that I'll live with a family who has a 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy.''
A finalist for The Virginian-Pilot Teenology column, Robin has written articles for Nansemond-Suffolk Academy's newspaper and has been the Norfolk editor of the Operation Smile newsletter that circulates nationwide.
As secretary of the Academy's Happy Club, she volunteers with the dental clinic and helps with paperwork at the Operation Smile headquarters on Boush Street in downtown Norfolk. She has completed an application and hopes to accompany a team on a missions trip in the near future.
Robin has volunteered during the summers at the Hillcrest Nursing Home and has a baby-sitting job after school.
A member of the Peer Club and the school volleyball team, Robin plans to attend Randolph-Macon College to major in journalism or pre-law.
She is the daughter of Chester and Peggy Riddick. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Left to right, Andrea Villa, Tina Gwaltney and Robin Riddick will
visit Suffolk County, England, from Sept. 23 to Oct. 7.
by CNB