Belgian teen learns about America at La Conner High School

A La Conner High School exchange student considering a career in filmmaking is becoming something of a celebrity himself.

While Aurelien Ali learns more about the local area since his arrival from Belgium last summer, teens in La Conner and around Skagit County are well acquainted with him.

“My friends here tell me they’re always asked: ‘Do you know Aurelien from Belgium,’” Ali, 18 and a member of the senior class, told the Weekly News.

“I don’t know them, but everyone knows about me.”

Perhaps it’s because of Ali’s engaging personality and willingness to leap into life here – best exemplified by having competed in the long jump this spring with the Braves’ track team.

“In Belgium,” Ali said, “you do sports outside of school, in clubs. Doing track with my friends in school was very nice. I got along well with all my teammates and coaches.”

The community beyond campus is familiar with him as well. This month he attended various public forums in La Conner and Anacortes with the Weekly News staff as part of a job shadow school assignment.

“I’m really interested in journalism,” said Ali, whose dad, Salvatore, is a projects and special events organizer and mom, Cecille, serves as an accountant with the European parliament.

“Right now,” he said, “I’m unsure if I will go into broadcast journalism, print journalism or film production.”

When he returns after the end of the school year, Ali will have the choice of over 40 universities in Belgium where he can study. His work with the Weekly News will make him eligible for scholarship aid and fulfill a requirement of his participation as an exchange student, said La Conner Middle and High School Counselor Lori Buher.

“Aurelien is required to shadow an American business that matches his career interest, she said.

Ali practiced the research skills of a reporter when he first sought acceptance as an exchange student two years ago.

“My sister, Camille, went to Ireland to do volunteer work in Dublin,” he said. “That showed me I could travel. So, in 2020, I started doing research and found a student exchange organization and began applying.”

That was just the start of a long process that eventually led Ali to Anacortes host family Blake and Kelsey Mooney and their children and attending high school here.

“There were medical checks, vaccines, lots of paperwork and questions asking why I wanted to go,” he recalled. “There were lots of reasons why I wanted to go to America.

“I wanted to improve my English,” said Ali, whose first language is French, “and I wanted to discover new cultures.”

Late last August, Ali was informed he had been accepted as an exchange student. He flew out two days later.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “But I’ve found it to be very beautiful here. I’ve been lucky to be someplace like this with the water, forests and mountains.”

He has since taken trips to the San Francisco Bay area, British Columbia and the Olympic Peninsula.

There have been many surprises, most notably, the small size of the high school.

“It’s very, very tiny,” he said. “In Europe, we always think of American high schools as being large.”

He very much likes the small class sizes and has enjoyed his courses, especially art, ceramics and history. Forging friendships, like those with students Ian McCormick and Josie Harper, has been most rewarding, he said.

So, too, have been his walks downtown, where he has found the people here to be overwhelmingly friendly.

“At the checkout stands in Belgium, it’s strictly business,” he pointed out, by comparison. “They might say, hi, or something like that. Here, in the U.S., I had one girl at a check stand ask me: ‘What are you doing tonight?’ At stores in Belgium, you don’t have a conversation. Never.”

Another difference, he said, is Americans often like finger food or might use just a fork for a meal. The Belgian custom is to use both a knife and fork while dining.

Ali doesn’t hesitate to recommend the student exchange experience to other teens.

“It’s definitely worth it,” he said. “You make some very good friends while getting out of your comfort zone. I know it will help me with everything in my life, with all the relationships in my life. I’ve learned so much.”