City Prepares for Foreign Exchange Students’ Arrival

Middle school students from Loreto, a small fishing community in Mexico that serves as Hermosa Beach's sister city, will be flying 1,000 miles north July 15 to spend a week in town. Four chaperones will be accompanying the students, as part of the Hermosa Beach Sister City Association's annual student exchange program. 

The association will vote on a schedule of activities for the visit at a meeting Monday. Possibilities include touring local eateries and city landmarks. Of the money allocated to this year's student exchange program, $4,375 remains.

At a meeting last month, program director George Barks said he would like to bolster that amount by using $1,000 that was collected at a Cinco de Mayo fundraiser. The fundraiser was originally intended to offset the airline subsidy for students.

The available budget will determine the activities that can be planned for the student exchange, which has been a part of the city for decades. As a symbol of the program's significance, Monica Horton-Frey formed a Facebook group exclusively for Hermosa Beach and Loreto foreign exchange students. Horton-Frey is the granddaughter of Joe Diaz, who founded the student exchange program between the two sister cities in 1974.

"I was in Loreto in 1977 or '78 I think," Hermosa Beach resident Andrea Pulcini wrote on the Facebook page. "I went back for Loreto City's 300th anniversary… that exchange program was one of the best experiences in my life."

Brian Folks, who now lives in Rolling Hills Estates, recalled a time 32 years ago when some local children in Loreto and exchange students from Hermosa Beach ventured to the basement of an old mission church in Mexico. In the dark, dingy cellar they tried to pry open the crypt of the original Padre.

"Needless to say the concrete lid was too much for us," he reminisced.

Since then, hundreds of Hermosa Beach youth have participated in the city's student exchange program and experienced similar adventures, as well as memorable cultural and educational experiences.

American sister cities, also known as twin cities, date to as early as 1931 when Toledo, Ohio, partnered with Toledo, Spain. President Dwight D. Eisenhower later initiated the nonprofit Sister Cities International in 1956. Hermosa Beach welcomed Loreto as its sister city in November 1967.

The next Hermosa Beach Sister City Association meeting will be July 5 at 7 p.m. For the location, call: (310) 406-0050.