Not many teenagers from Bangladesh are given the opportunity to live and go to school in the United States for a whole year. Exchange student Mahitha Ahsan Totini, who also goes by River, stands out from her peers in her home country this way.
Totini’s love for travel is what drove her decision to study abroad. “I’m a really big travel freak. I love traveling, so I started searching for programs in different countries,” Totini shared. When Totini heard about the U.S. Department of State’s Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program, she became intrigued. The program allows secondary students from foreign countries to study in the U.S. for a whole school year while living with a host family. Pitted against thousands of applicants and put through numerous interviews and essays, Totini certainly did not have an easy process earning admission to the program. Nevertheless, she was determined. “I love things that challenge me and my abilities,” Totini said. Only 22 students from Bangladesh, including Totini, secured spots in the program this year.
One of the factors considered in the exchange program’s application process is each student’s ability to effectively communicate in English. Along with speaking Japanese, Korean, and Bengali, Totini’s mastery of the English language is part of what led to her being chosen out of the many other applicants. Initially, though, Totini wasn’t too keen on learning the language, but her experience during the COVID-19 pandemic is what furthered her progression. “In six months, I just watched a lot of ‘Friends,’‘How I Met Your Mother,’ every TV series in the world,” Totini shared.
Upon arriving in the US, Totini was first placed with a family in Fairfax, Virginia, but later moved in with the Summers family in Purcellville in November. Even with the changes in host families and countries, Totini quickly found a friend in her host sister, Woodgrove sophomore Victoria Summers. “I do everything with her,” Totini said. “I share a room with her, so yeah, it’s a lot of fun.” Summers and her family were enthusiastic about taking Totini in for the rest of the school year. “I have three brothers, so I was like, ‘Oh my god, a sister? I can have one of those?’ It’s amazing!” Summers exclaimed.
After moving to Purcellville, Totini was transferred to Woodgrove, and her first few days of school were certainly an adjustment. “On my first day at Woodgrove, I got lost three times…but I was really excited,” Totini recalled. Totini remembers her experience with meeting her classmates and teachers as welcoming and reassuring, and class structures made it possible for her to get to know people more easily. “Here we have, let’s say, 15 students in a class and the teachers are really helping each other…Back at my school [in Bangladesh], 50 students are in my class, so we might not even know each other’s names for three months,” Totini explained. One of the other differences Totini experienced between Woodgrove and her school in Bangladesh was the course offerings. In Bangladesh, Totini mostly took subjects that were on a science-focused path. With Woodgrove’s more flexible course selection, she was given the opportunity to branch out in her studies. Now, her course load includes classes like Theatre and AP African American Studies. Totini thought, “There’s a lot of options here, so why not take different classes?” Mr. Matthew Talboo, who teaches AP African American Studies and introduced the course to Woodgrove this year, admires Totini’s interest in the subject and the active role she takes in class discussions. “She provides the perspective of a non-American in an American setting, which allows the other students to see how other cultures view us—our story, our struggles,” Talboo shared.
In coherence with branching out academically, Totini was also able to find new extracurriculars to engage in. At Woodgrove, she found a new home in the communities of the Japanese Club and Global Ambassadors. As part of her involvement in Global Ambassadors and as a member of Woodgrove’s international community, Totini contributed to the widely successful International Food Night hosted by the club in January. She made several dishes to share with her friends and classmates at the event, preparing Bengali classics such as Fuchka, a dish of small crispy shells filled with chickpeas and tamarind water, for the participants to indulge in. “We are all about spice, we love our spices,” Totini said of Bengali cooking.
In getting to share her favorite foods with Woodgrove, Totini is in turn able to spread her appreciation for her country. “I am really proud of my ethnicity. In our country, it is taken as very important,” Totini elaborated. Her love for her country as well as her enthusiasm for embracing new opportunities has provided Totini with a beneficial exchange experience, one that she will appreciate years on. “I love it here. I’m having a lot of fun making new friends, experiencing new things,” Totini said. “I’m making a lot of memories, and also, I’m telling people about my country. I’m letting people know who I am.”