Fifty years ago in 1974, Mark Horsnell of Christchurch, New Zealand, came to Ravenna as an AFS (foreign exchange student). His host family was the Sam and Ruth DiPaola family. He attended Ravenna High School as a senior with his host sister, Maria DiPaola. While at Ravenna, the football team won the Metro League, he lived through a large snowfall (something he never saw in New Zealand), attended the prom, was on the debate team and visited Quebec, Canada, as a member of the French Club.
When he returned home to New Zealand, he went to the university in Christchurch for one year. He then received a scholarship from the Japanese Ministry of Education to complete a five-year course of study at Japan University in Tokyo.
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