Over the years, Norwalk High School has had many exchange students.
Dulguun Batzaya is an exchange student from Mongolia who was selected as a finalist for the ‘Flex’ Program to study in the United States. He arrived Aug. 18, 2023, and was practicing with the football team before school even started.
“The season is going great, and I’m just trying to figure new things out,” Dulguun said.
Dulguun said he is enjoying his time in Norwalk, especially the people.
“I enjoy the people and how friendly they are,” he said.
Norwalk journalism teacher Jenny Thomas said Dulguun is very determined and driven.
“He’s been a wonderful student,” Thomas said. “He’s very enthusiastic. He was the only student to participate in media day at Drake.”
Thomas said he does his best at everything he does.
“He signed up for journalism class, and he’s gonna get all he can from it,” she said. “He signed up for football and was practicing before school started.”
Thomas said having international students at Norwalk is a great experience for everyone.
“Makes our world bigger,” she said. “I don’t think that I had ever met anyone from Mongolia until I met Dulguun, and now we have a new friend from Mongolia.”
Some of Dulguun’s friends at Norwalk call him “Danny.” One of those friends is Brayden Plourde.
“I got to know Danny from football,” Brayden said. “We played the same position, so I kinda helped him out and gave him some tips and pointers.”
Brayden said Dulguun is one of the nicest people he knows.
“Danny is very positive, and he brings an aura to the room every time he’s in here,” Brayden said.
Dulguun will be headed back to Mongolia shortly after graduation. Brayden said he is glad he made the choice to stay in Norwalk for a year.
“He is very kind, he is never mean to anyone, and he’s always just like the nicest person, probably one of the nicest people at our school,” said Brayden.
