Upper Hutt College students Grace Seamark and Dominic Smart have had the time of their lives in Mesa, Phoenix, USA as ambassadors representing Upper Hutt in the Mesa Youth Ambassador Exchange programme.

The Year 13 students were selected from a large number of secondary school applicants in the area by the Upper Hutt City Council to attend the three week adventure in the land of the stars and stripes.

Every day saw our students doing something completely different. Grace's favourite moment was visiting the Grand Canyon while Dom made the most of the opportunity to see one his favourite comedians - Theo Von - in a live performance.

Mesa students Melanie Goetter and Jake Smith hosted Grace and Dom, and their hospitality will be reciprocated when they are welcomed to Upper Hutt and the college early next week.

As part of their adventures Grace and Dom were treated to all sorts of truly American experiences such as:

• Going to the Seton Catholic Preparatory senior prom - great timing!
• Saying the pledge of allegiance every morning under the American flag.
• Shopping at Walmart
• Dom trying a burger with four different patties at In-N-Out
• Attending a county fair
• Driving to Disneyland
• Seeing a cactus that was several metres high!
• Trying a cactus steak - evidently it tastes like asparagus.
• Seeing live bears

Also as part of their time in Mesa, they had to get use to having scorpions in the back yard - a challenging prospect and a lot different to Upper Hutt!

Upper Hutt College and the City Council are looking forward to providing an equally enjoyable experience for our Mesa guests.

Grace's advice for anyone who is fortunate enough to be selected for the exchange is to "try everything".  She plans to definitely go back and visit her host family in the future.