Simone Coli recently completed his experience as a high school student in the United States, as he spent this year as a senior at Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH). A foreign exchange student from Italy, Coli competed on the SPASH boys cross country and boys track teams, before he closed the school year by taking part in SPASH graduation Sunday, May 26.

“It’s a real success story, in a lot of ways,” said SPASH boys cross country coach Donn Behnke. “Whoever sets up foreign exchange programs, I think this is exactly what they had in mind.” “It was an incredible experience; it’s pretty different from everything else that I did,” said Coli. “It’s basically a changing in world and changing in habits.