Former exchange student reunites with host
Trending
NILES -- In 1992, Alex Fuchs was a high school exchange student from Germany who spent an entire year with the Anthony and Jane Vigorito family and attended Niles McKinley High School.
This week, Fuchs traveled back to Niles because he wanted to be with the family as his host father, Anthony Vigorito, died and he wanted to be there to support them.
The Frankford, Germany, resident, who is now married with two children, flew to the United States to be with his host family and attend Vigorito's funeral. Fuchs and the younger Anthony Vigorito were seniors during the 1992 to 1993 school year at Niles and graduated with the class of 1993, but Fuchs still had to finish another year in Germany.
At the funeral this week, Fuchs said he ran into his former Niles government teacher Joseph Barber.
"It has been 34 years since I had him as a teacher," Fuchs said.
Fuchs said while he was saddened by Anthony's death, he was glad to be able to spend time with his host mother, Jane, and his two host brothers, Anthony and Kenny, class of 1995.
When Fuchs first came to Niles, he stayed with another host family until the Vigoritos offered to be the host parents.
"Anthony would bring Alex to our house all the time after school and have dinner with us and go camping at our cabin. He was with my sons all the time. My son asked me if Alex could live with us. We had a family meeting and agreed to host Alex. We wanted to keep him even when it was time for him to go back to Germany," Jane said.
Jane said she and her husband were approved to be a host family and Kuchs soon became part of the Vigorito household.
Fuchs, now 52, said he remembers first meeting Tony in Ralph Tolbert's computer class.
"Every day after school, he would come home with us. We played sports together and we would go on trips with him to the cabin and hiking," Tony said.
Fuchs said he remembers the ice skating pond at nearby Waddell Park.
"That was the one winter activity I always liked to do," he said.
Fuchs said he always felt like a member of the Vigorito family. He said he had no siblings, so it was nice to have two brothers.
He said he remembers experiencing a family barbecue and having corn-on-the-cob, which he began to enjoy and never had in Germany.
"Corn-on-the-cob is still one of my favorites," Fuchs said.
Jane said she found photos of Kuchs eating corn-on-the-cob and helping her prepare it.
Fuchs said while at Niles McKinley, he found all the teachers very approachable.
"People I met here were always here with open arms and wanted to get to know me and would always talk to me. The Vigoritos always had a lot of company who were so friendly," he said.
Jane said she remembers the first time she took Fuchs to the local grocery store and he was overwhelmed by how much food there was.
"I remember he said there is a whole aisle of just cereal," she said.
Fuchs said there were so many more products in the United States than in Germany.
He said he always enjoyed Frosted Mini Wheats for breakfast.
SHARING MEMORIES
After completing his year in Niles in 1993, Fuchs returned to Germany for one more year of high school and then went to college to study economics and business administration in Switzerland. He now works for the airline industry.
He works for Condor, a German leisure airline, which is planning more flights to the United States, including a route to Chicago in 2027.
" I have worked for customer service for airlines in Switzerland and Germany. I enjoy the international airline industry," Fuchs said.
He said the time with the family at Anthony's funeral was very emotional.
"I have always stayed in contact with the family and wanted to come here later in the summer, but that changed when I got the message the other day that Anthony had passed away and I wanted to be here," Fuchs said.
He said he was able to get the last seat on the airplane to fly into Detroit and got a rental car and came to Niles.
Fuchs said he came to Niles with his family about four years ago.
"We made a huge sign welcoming him back and put it above the garage door. You can tell how much we all love him," Jane said.
She said she remembers telling Fuchs that she was going to start spring cleaning and washing walls and the next morning, he told her he did not feel well to go to school and stayed home to instead help her wash walls.
"He used to call me Janena Babe. I told him that morning he was sick but then he later admitted he never washed walls and wanted to stay home for that. It was so funny that he stayed home from school to wash the walls. I can still picture him helping me with the living room walls that day," Jane said,
She said "her third son" made her feel so special.
"The three of us were always pulling pranks and stuff like that. We always had fun in our swimming pool," Tony said.
Fuchs said the swimming pool was popular, with many of the neighborhood youth stopping over.
He said he had a different taste in music such as opera.
Kenny said Fuchs was "a good addition to the family."
Tony said he remembers his dad asking Fuchs to fix Kool-Aid for a picnic and he put too much sugar in it.
"Alex never made Kool-Aid before and did not know how much sugar to put in and ended up putting a very large amount of sugar in. My dad would say when he tried it, his teeth started hurting. We needed to dump half of it out," Tony said.
Fuchs said he did not at the time understand U.S. measurements were different from Germany.
He said he liked Kool-Aid and Mountain Dew, and Doritos were his favorite snacks.
To celebrate Tony's 51st birthday on Saturday, the family will gather for a meal. Fuchs said he always liked the chicken wings at Quaker Steak & Lube.
While staying this weekend, the Vigoritos have taken Fuchs to see the new high school and other Niles sites.
"I will always be grateful to have been part of this wonderful family and being in touch with them all these years. It has been 34 years since I was first here," he said.
Fuchs said his foreign exchange year in Niles is one he will always remember.
"I wish every high school student could have such an experience in another country," he said.