Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Tocto Enjoys Visit To Prescott

Few students would voluntarily spend their summer vacation by going to school.

However, this is exactly what Carla Tocto, 15, did. Tocto is a foreign exchange student from Lima, Peru. In her country it is summer and the children are on vacation.

But, in Prescott, it's still winter and school is in session. Tocto didn't have to attend school, but chose to. She said it gave her something to do and helped her meet people her age.

She arrived Jan. 8, and will be returning home on Feb. 21.

In the intervening six weeks, though, she's packed in quite a bit of activity.

She has been staying with Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Lee Johnson during her visit. On weekends, they have traveled to Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Branson, Mo.

In Lima, Tocto is involved in basketball, swimming and gymnastics, as well as school.

The Johnsons took her to a Lady Razorback basketball game recently and Tocto got to see the University of Arkansas swim team while at Fayetteville.

Until last year, though, she had never heard of Arkansas, though this is her second visit to the United States.

Both stops first landed her in Miami, Fla. initially, with her second trip bringing her to Southwest Arkansas and Prescott.

She came here through the Lions Club International Student Exchange Program.

Schools, she said, are different in Lima than here. There are no grade breakdowns for the students, such as the U.S. K-12 and students don't get to pick and choose what classes they take.

Students in what would be K-4 are grouped together, as are the rest.

They must take eight classes per day, with the first six being 45 minutes long and the last two being 30 minutes each. Tocto's class load last year included Spanish, Math, Biology, English, History, Art, Athletics and Computers.

"You have to work hard," she said of school in Lima. School in the U.S. is easier in some ways because of choosing what classes will be taken.

Another major difference, she said, is students in Lima must wear uniforms. Being able to wear what she wanted to Prescott High School posed what is a typical problem here picking out the day's clothes.

In many ways, life in Lima and Prescott are the same for young people, she said. Both enjoy hanging out with their friends, being involved in sports and listening to music.

She can't wait to get back home to visit with her friends. She'll still have three weeks of vacation left before school starts for the new year there.

Tocto plans on hanging out with her friends, listening to music and shopping. "I miss my friends," she said.

She will return to the family's five dogs and her pet hamster. While Tocto runs three miles a day with the dogs, she said they aren't hers. This is because her mother takes care of them.

Tocto has one brother, 17, and a sister, 22. Her brother is currently trying to get into a university.

Going to a university, as there are no colleges in Peru, is also a plan of Tocto's. She is considering studying psychology, but isn't sure this will be her field of choice when the time comes.

In Peru, Tocto listens to what is termed alternative music. Here, though, she learned to like Elvis Presley and rock from the 1960's.

She has also gone to a lot of movies during her visit to Prescott. Tocto prefers watching romance and suspense movies.

"I would like to come back," she said. "I like traveling. I like the people here and will try to keep in touch." This will be done through the electronic medium of computerized e-mail. Tocto has given her Arkansas friends her e-mail address in Lima and plans to correspond with them in this manner.

Conventional letter writing, she said, takes too long.