Sitting in Wrigley Field as a symphony of distant car horns, scattered chatter and the occasional baseball hit played as background music, Evelyn Adongo ate her first hotdog. It was August 15th, and that was when she truly realized she wasn’t in her home country of Ghana. “From my short time here I’ve learned that Americans are friendly,” Adongo said. “and they eat a lot of bread.”

Adongo has traveled from Bolgatanga, a town with a population of about 66,000 people in Ghana, to Parker through the American Field Service. Founded by two WWII ambulance drivers, AFS “works toward a more just and peaceful world by providing international and intercultural learning experiences to individuals,” according to their website.

Currently, Adongo lives with seventh grader Julia Peet and her mother, Shauna Peet. Next semester, she will reside with senior Audrey May and her parents George May and Lois Scott.

The name Evelyn in Hebrew means “life.” As her five foot five frame bounces down the hallway with a bright smile spread across her face, anyone could tell that Evelyn lives up to her name. Upper School French Teacher and Department Co-Chair Lorin Pritikin remembers first meeting Adongo September 4th. “My first impressions were courageous, kind, funny, and resilient,” Pritikin said. “She opens up and is willing to share. I’m just in awe.”

Maybe her liveliness is attributed to the fact that she’s the youngest of four sisters and a brother back home. Adongo said, “I come from a big family.”

When Adongo first landed in Chicago, AFS Committee Heads Zoe Laris-Djokovic and Audrey Shadle took her out to a welcome breakfast. In between bites of pancakes and french toast, the three girls talked about the AFS process and life back home. “I have a lot of respect for her,” Laris-Djokovic said.

Adongo shared stories of her new experiences– like that time when she milked a goat with her host family in Wisconsin, or when she got to spend time in Washington D.C. before coming to Chicago. “She has many stories to share,” Shadle said. “It was so interesting to listen.”

At first, Adongo didn’t think she’d ever be here. “Coming here for this program was really something I never had in mind,” Adongo said. “But I had an idea to study outside of my high school because I was trying to see if I could apply to colleges in other countries.”

Specifically, medical schools. Adongo has a love for medicine. “I’ve always loved to be able to bring some joy into people’s faces, and I feel that being a doctor is one of the ways,” Adongo said.

Pritikin sees the profession in Adongo. “She wants to help people,” Pritikin said. “She’s very altruistic. With her church and family, she was taught that you have an obligation to be a member of your community but also a global citizen.”

Part of the reason she likes medicine comes from something she learned in her World Literature class, taught by Ms. Gibson. “I was taught that someone once said the best way to let someone put on their best is to put them under stress,” Adongo said. “I think that that’s something doctors have to do everyday.”

In Ghana, Adongo attended St. Francis of Assisi Girls Senior High School. According to Ghana’s Education Service, it was the first girls school to be established in the Upper West Region. Back home, Adongo is an avid member of the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), a church group where students can socialize. “Sometimes we do choreography dancing, we do singing, we do drama,” Adongo said. “I was in a church choir, so I would go to church for choir rehearsals.”

Adongo is looking forward to all the things she will learn from this experience. “So far, I learned to appreciate people for who they are,” Adongo said. “Hopefully, I will go back with a broader mind, and I will see things differently.”