MHS Students Teach Germans How To ‘Chill’

When most Europeans picture an American vacation, they imagine a trip to New York or Los Angeles—not St. Louis.

But a group of students may have changed that, at least for their peers in Cologne, Germany.

Cheryll Bowman’s German students at MHS have been sending videos about life in Mehlville and St. Louis to a school in Cologne, Germany as part of a new exchange program. This new video (click above to play) highlights hobbies for the typical Gateway teen: soccer, baseball, after-school jobs, hanging at the mall and, most importantly, being “chill.”

“We decided to show the goods of St. Louis,” junior Nermin Hajrizi said. “I think they are going to get excited about possibly coming to St. Louis from what we showed them.”

When Hajrizi started making the video with his fellow students, he knew he had to enlist of help of filmmaking enthusiast and MHS junior Milan Orescanin.

Despite not being in the class, Orescanin spent eight hours helping Hajrizi and his group edit the video.

“It is definitely worth it,” said Orescanin, who has been pursuing filmmaking since seventh grade. “I wanted something that could entertain the German kids.”

He succeeded. The school in Cologne showed their video in the auditorium, and German students had rave reviews.

“We got really good feedback. They were really excited,” Hajrizi said.

Hajrizi was born in Germany and moved to America when he was four. Despite spending his summers in Germany, where he still has family, Hajrizi said he is losing his German, so he studies the language at MHS.

Bowman’s class also made a video about sports and school spirit, which Mehlville-Oakville Patch highlighted last week.