Mike Johnson, Class rep for '58, sent me the following news articles:
HE'S BACK! Gunnar Serck-Hanssen, a 1958 exchange student from Oslo, Norway, returns to Fullerton Union to greet friends.
Gunnar Serck-HanssenAge: 66 Residence: Oslo, Norway
Family: Wife, Toril, retired stewardess with Scandinavian Airways; two children; two grandchildren.
Education: Degree in business administration from the University of Norway in Bergen. (Senior year at Fullerton Union High School did not count in Oslo's education system.)
Profession: Retired president of B. Skaugen A.S. international shipping firm in Norway.
Hobbies: Running, cross-country skiing, sailing, hunting.
Pride and joy: Restored 22-foot wooden boat with a lead keel and odd-shaped sails he keeps at a summer home in a Norwegian fishing village.
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Fullerton Union's first exchange student visits
'Shy little guy' from Norway a confident man now, partly from year spent in U.S.
By BARBARA GIASONE The Orange County Register
FULLERTON - The orange groves have vanished; Hall's hamburger hangout is history. But Plummer Auditorium at Fullerton Union High School was reason enough for Gunnar Serck-Hanssen of Norway to return to the campus last week for the first time in 48 years. "This was the place that helped set the course for my career," said Serck-Hanssen, 66, the school's first foreign exchange student. "I came from Oslo where the total high school population was 400, and here I was in the auditorium facing 2,000 students to tell about my country. "I was the shy little guy from Norway, but that experience helped build my self-confidence and change my personality," Serck-Hanssen said.
Until his retirement, Serck-Hanssen was president of B. Skaugen A.S., an international shipping firm that took him on speaking engagements throughout the world. The school exchange program, arranged by American Field Service, also allowed the 5-foot-5 Norwegian to compete in American high school track. To this day, Serck-Hanssen is ranked No. 10 in his age division in Norway's cross-country skiing competition. But to his FUHS buddies, who joined him on a morning tour of the 113-year-old school, he's still "Gunnar, the guy from Norway."
Reflecting on his introduction to American life, Serck-Hanssen told his former classmates it took about three months to get acquainted and decipher American slang. "That's before we got hold of him and made him a member of the Dominator Car Club," interjected Arky Mitchell of Laguna Beach, who hosted Serck-Hanssen and his wife, Toril. "We couldn't understand his language, but we showed him how to have fun." AFS rules prevented exchange students from driving, so the Dominators chauffeured Serck-Hanssen around the county. "When they invited me to the Colorado River for a weekend, I had to get special permission from AFS to go," Serck-Hanssen remembered.
"I noticed the American boys were preoccupied with cars and girls."
Continuing his campus tour, the agile Norwegian said he was overwhelmed by new construction, including a $12 million modernization program and the recently completed science and computer building. Serck-Hanssen recalled excelling in his American math class because Norway was so advanced in its teachings. And his proficiency in proper English led to a higher-level language class on the FUHS campus.
When his car-club cronies tossed around names of former teachers, Serck-Hanssen couldn't believe German instructor Lawrence Myers, 96, still lived in his own home in Fullerton. "He was the one who brought the American Field Service program to Fullerton," Serck-Hanssen said.
After the tour, city Fire Inspector Tom Thompson - another of Serck-Hanssen's Class of '58 pals - arranged a meeting with Myers."
This has been a great day, if not a little overwhelming," Serck-Hanssen said. "My wife and I can't get over all the cars. Your freeways are like Norway's roads on weekends."
The news article can be seen on the OC Register web site for a short time.
http://ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/article_1296417.phpI am trying to put the picture on this post, but I'm not having any luck yet. I was able to put it on another post. Go figure. (I enlarged the picture from the newspaper.)
