Foreign Exchange Student Revisits Ellwood After 37 Years

Soh Ping (left) holding her graduation picture and standing next to Janice Margargee.

John Magargee and his wife Janice are pleased to welcome Soh Ping Summers, a foreign exchange student they hosted in the year 1978 to 1979, back to Ellwood City after 37 years!

Soh Ping was a student from Singapore, Malaysia who joined a foreign exchange program when she was 18 and attended Ellwood’s very own Riverside High School, where she graduated with the senior class in 1979.

She is back to visit Ellwood, again being hosted by the Magargee’s, however this time she isn’t here for school and she comes accompanied by her Scottish husband and a lot of updates on her life over the past 37 years.

Summers said the schools in Singapore are all about learning and very little fun is involved, “academics in Malaysia are taken very seriously and strictly”. She stated that she found it very refreshing to partake in American schooling for a year where she had the opportunity to join in on many fun school activities, like being in the plays, traveling to Florida with the choir, and attending the high school’s yearly ski trip.

Even though she graduated with the class of ’79, when she returned to Singapore she had to finish another two years of schooling before she could attend a college there. She said the hardest part about going back home after spending a year at school here was “getting back into the Malaysian school routine.”

Janice Magargee reminisced, “I remember her day of graduation, all the girls were crying and saying their good-byes to Soh Ping, saying that they would never see her again, and honestly, I thought the same thing myself. It broke my heart.”

Soh Ping managed to stay in contact with the Magargee’s after her graduation but after she moved and so did the Magargee’s, they lost each others contact information. After decades of not hearing from each other, Janice found Soh Ping on Facebook and they regained communication!

Soh Ping is now married to her Scottish husband of 29 years, who she met in Singapore, and they have two beautiful children, one son who is 26 and one daughter who is 23. Soh Ping and her family all currently reside in Queensland, Australia, where she works as a library teacher.

Soh Ping and her husband arrived in Ellwood on the first of September and have already visited the Canfield Fair and Rogers Flea Market, they are planning to go to Niagara Falls during the week in order to be back for the Riverside Class of ’79 High School Reunion on Saturday. They plan to spend just under three weeks with the Margargee’s.

Soh Ping said she is very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be accepted into the foreign exchange program 37 years ago, and she’s very excited about her return visit.

Be the first to comment on "Foreign Exchange Student Revisits Ellwood After 37 Years"

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*