Washington Academy guidance director Kathryn Richmond handed Moremil Clemente a steaming mug of hot chocolate. “This doesn’t happen often, or for just anyone,” she said smiling. “And I’ll need that cup back.”

Clemente smiled, turning her attention to her assignment for her English as a Second Language class, sipping the drink as she practiced writing a letter in English.

Clemente, a native of Venezuela, is one of nine international students at Washington Academy in East Machias. The private secondary school initiated the program last year in an effort to boost its declining enrollment and to diversify its student body. Students from France, Germany, Hungary, Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey and Venezuela have been attending the Washington County school and living with host families in the community.

Washington Academy is following the lead of successful foreign student programs at other private secondary schools in Maine, including Lee Academy, Foxcroft Academy and Fryeburg Academy, and Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield.

Students like Clemente were attracted to Washington Academy because it offered them the chance to improve their English by taking ESL classes and being immersed in an English-speaking environment.

Many want to become proficient enough to do well on the Test of English as a Foreign Language, known as TOEFL, required of foreigners applying to American universities.

Living in Washington County has given foreign students a perspective on American life and culture far different from the one projected in American movies.

“When we were driving here, we were just passing trees and trees and more trees,” Clemente recalled. “Instead of buildings, there were trees.”

Clemente and Charlie Shim of Korea finished writing their letters and handed them to ESL teacher Virginia Plummer. Plummer then read the letters and offered the students tips on how to improve their writing.

They also discussed homonyms and the international students’ coming trip to Boston before class ended.

“I think the program has been wonderful,” Plummer reflected. “[The international students] give us insights about their cultures, and it suggests to some of our students that the world is smaller than we think.”

Washington Academy headmaster Judson McBrine agrees.

“It’s hard to find a downside of this program,” he said.

Coping with declining enrollment

In 1992, enrollment at Washington Academy hovered around 400 students but has steadily dropped, reaching 290 this school year. Seven staff positions have been eliminated since 1995.

Charlene Cates, Washington Academy’s director of advancement and admissions, attributed the continuing decline to a demographic shift in which a growing number of people are moving away from the rural communities that feed Washington Academy.

“People are moving away to choose more lucrative careers, and if they stay, they are not having as many children,” she said. “There’s been a continuous decline for at least 10 years.”

Washington Academy is a semiprivate school, serving about 20 towns that do not have their own high schools and cover the tuition costs to send their students there. Students hailing from communities that have their own high schools must pay their own tuition.

So when enrollment plunged, the academy’s tuition revenue took a nose dive and administrators feared they would have to cut academic programs to make up for the loss.

“Because we’re not a public school, we couldn’t go to the taxpayers and ask them for more money,” Cates explained. “We had to look outside ourselves.”

Two years ago, the school hired Marketing Media and Wellman of Bangor to study its enrollment and recommend strategies for increasing it. The company confirmed that the academy would continue to lose money unless it sought students from outside its traditional base. That meant that the academy could either recruit students from other parts of Maine and New England, or start an international program.

Cates and McBrine chose to pursue the international route after consulting with administrators from private New England schools with international programs. The academy worked through several agencies that specialize in recruiting foreign students for private schools, such as the Foreign Study League of Douglassville, Pa., the International Study Exchange of Babylon, N.Y., and the Chinese Education and Development Association of Taipei. Cates and McBrine also made recruiting trips to Japan, Korea and Taiwan, where they met with students, families, student placement consultants and school administrators.

McBrine said revenue from this year’s foreign student program will cover the startup costs. Next year, the academy hopes to attract 15 international students, which could generate about $30,000.

In-state tuition is about $6,000 while international tuition costs about $15,500.

“Over time, we could depend on about $50,000 a year for revenue,” McBrine said. “But we won’t be sitting around trying to figure out how to spend money. We’re private, so we can’t make a profit.”

McBrine said that the academy may build a dorm or renovate a house for its international group, as many other schools have done. Now, each host family receives $3,500 to cover expenses for the students.

But, Cates said, the nonmonetary benefits of the program are proving to be just as important as the sorely needed tuition.

“There’s not a lot of diversity in Washington County. This gives our students an awareness of global issues and other cultures,” she said. “It adds so much to the school. It’s amazing to watch the students build friendships.”

Foreign exposure

Local and international students have the opportunity to interact in the International Club, which meets once a week during an activity period. Cates, who leads the club along with language teacher Cathy Swain, says about 30 students participate.

At Christmas, the club celebrated by decorating a tree with ornaments from the countries represented at the academy. The students also shared traditional holiday foods and customs.

Juan Cabau of Madrid, Spain, and Steve Kamseu of France visited elementary school children at the Whiting School when the youngsters were studying Paris. Cabau has tutored some of the local students in Spanish.

And most of the international students have participated in varsity sports, including basketball, cross country, soccer and tennis.

Juniors Ross Mawhinney and Karami Ham say they value their new foreign friends and relish the chance to learn about other cultures.

Clemente spent Christmas with Ham and her family, and introduced the Venezuelan tradition of eating 12 grapes on the holiday, to symbolize the 12 months of the coming year.

Mawhinney lives only a few miles from Cabau and his host family. The two also have been teammates in soccer and basketball.

“It’s been a big change for Juan because in Madrid at age 16 they go to nightclubs every night,” Mawhinney said. “It’s a little slower-paced here so Juan is always trying to get us to go do stuff.”

Cabau has challenged all comers in pingpong. Max Weiss of Germany has introduced his friends to snakeboarding, a variation of skateboarding. Weiss is also a budding disc jockey.

“He has turntables and he freestyle-raps,” Mawhinney said. “He kind of has trouble rapping in English, but his German [rap] is good.”

Kamseu is trying to teach his friends the finer points of break-dancing.

“Before [basketball] practice, he’s always showing us moves,” Mawhinney said.

Sophomore Matthew McCarthy’s parents, David and Lisa McCarthy of Columbia Falls, have served as hosts to Shim and Viktor Vadasz of Hungary.

Vadasz’s parents visited the McCarthys earlier in the year and cooked Hungarian foods for their hosts. At Thanksgiving, the McCarthys included Hungarian dishes on the menu.

Vadasz, who came to the academy for just a half-year in order to improve his English for the TOEFL exam, returned to Hungary in January. Matthew McCarthy will visit him over spring break.

“I’m looking forward to it a lot. It will be the first time I’ve ever been to another country, besides Canada,” he said.

The McCarthys have three children, ages 16, 12 and 9. When Vadasz returned to Hungary, the McCarthys took in Chi-chuan Sun of Taiwan, who came for the second half of the school year.

“They’ve blended right in with the family. We’ve enjoyed learning about their different cultures, and teaching them about the things we do here,” Lisa McCarthy said.

Welcome in Washington County

The foreign students admit it was a bit of a shock to arrive at their new school and community.

“When I got to the house where I would be living … I thought, ‘Where are all the other houses?'” Cabau recalled.

“When I got here I thought I would be living in Bangor,” said Weiss. “I thought, ‘Yeah, I can live here for a full year, there’s a mall, and some houses, I can live in this village …”

But Bangor, of course, is 100 miles from East Machias. Vadasz said he has been amazed at the frequency people travel to Bangor for shopping or entertainment.

“People are like, ‘Let’s go to Bangor’ – and it’s a three-hour trip! At home, that would be considered a serious journey,” he said.

Despite the initial surprise, the students said they are adjusting. They may miss the conveniences of their big-city homes, but they can take part in special programs, including trips to Boston, Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, as well as hiking, skiing and whale watching. They also have access to the pool and athletic facilities at the University of Maine at Machias.

Cabau said he has been impressed by the community spirit in the area.

“Everyone really gets involved. Like the basketball games. It’s just high school basketball – and there’s a big crowd,” he noted.

“At home you wouldn’t have a sport [as popular in the community] like that,” Kamseu added.

For Shim, Washington Academy is helping him to work toward his dream of attending an Ivy League college and becoming an American citizen. Last year, he attended a private school in California and lived in a dorm with other international students trying to learn English. Living with a host family has helped him improve his English by practicing it more often.

Shim said he has also come to appreciate the small-town setting.

During lunch, Burcu Yenipinar (left), from Turkey, chats with her friends Katie Cates (center) and Natalie Wood. Yenipinar is a senior at Washington Academy.

Wei-Ti Hsu, who is called Bruce at school, waits for a friend after school gets out. The senior at Washington Academy is from Taiwan.