(May 27, 2005)

At home in Germany, he's an only child. In Pleasanton, he has four "sisters" and one "brother." In Germany, the educational emphasis is on learning, and learning alone. No after school dances, no sports, no school newspaper.

If there's a bright side to Germany's single-minded development of the student's mind, it's that, there, students have never heard of "homework." So says 17-year-old exchange student Lucas Wehner (pronounced Vay-ner), who believes an ideal system would incorporate the best of both systems.

Wehner is an unabashed enthusiast for the American way of life, one he describes as open, friendly and "awesome." He first met his host family, Martin and Susan Knuppe and kids, during a 2004 visit to the states as a member of his German high school's "partnership" with Foothill High School. After one week visiting New York City, the group spent three weeks in Pleasanton. Remembering, Wehner's eyes light up. "My host family and me," he said, "we loved each other."

Total immersion in an English-speaking culture was just what Wehner, a student at the Appointed School of Europe's Bilingual Elite School since 2000, was looking for. When the chance came to return to his host family, and Pleasanton, for an entire school year, he was ecstatic.

Worried at first that his fractured English might interfere with his academics at Foothill High School, Wehner said teachers there were understanding and patient. Finishing up the school year, he maintained a better-than 3.6 GPA, or B+ average. Meantime, his 18-year-old "brother" Austin was introducing Wehner to his friends and taking him to parties. At the Knuppe house, Wehner's new siblings meant a level of "activity and noise" that Wehner found exhilarating. "It was so much fun with them," he said, thinking ahead to what it will be like to go back to being an only child when he returns to Germany in June.

Wehner has every intention, though, of continuing his bond here. He's pitching his hometown to become "partner" cities with Pleasanton - sharing everything from how each responds to disasters to the differences in their educational systems.

Wehner, who would like to one day to be an ambassador or diplomat in Germany's State Department, is especially grateful to the Knuppes for introducing him to the minister and youth programs at their church, Cornerstone Fellowship in Livermore. There, he said he found a dynamic approach to Christianity that was different from German services, which he described as "conservative and boring."

At first, he said, he humored the Knuppes and tagged along "because of the good donuts." Now, though, he wants to apply the church's message to his hoped for diplomatic work. Of his vision for a partnership between Pleasanton and his home town, Halle/Saale, Wehner said, "I hope to bring us together in business, offices, education, technology, social understanding," and especially, "tolerance."

In that spirit of tolerance, Wehner said he has begun to write "diplomatic letters" to his Jewish friends, "saying sorry for Germany's history." -Carol Bogart

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