Estela Campos Bids Farewell After Memorable Year at Springwood
Published 8:45 am Saturday, May 31, 2025
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An international student who just completed her junior year at Springwood High was the guest speaker at Thursday’s noon-hour meeting of the West Point Rotary Club. Estela Campos told members of the club that the decision she made last summer to attend school in Lanett, Alabama was the best one she’s ever made.
“I am grateful to have been here,” she said. “I was considering going to a school in Ohio, but I had the opportunity to live with a host family by going to Springwood.”
Campos is an only child so an opportunity to live with a family with children excited her. “I wanted to be with an American family and to learn what it was like to have siblings.”
She spent this past school year living with the family of Thomas and Ashley Hill. Campos loves sports, and living with the Hills gave her the chance to learn jet skiing and ski on Lake Harding.
“I will never forget skiing on the lake,” Campos said. “It was the most fun I’d ever had.”
At Springwood, she played volleyball, soccer and softball, and was a member of the school’s state championship basketball team. The Lady Wildcats were blessed to have two girls from Spain on this past year’s team. Teammate Vega Julvez is from Zaragosa, Spain.
In February, Springwood defeated Lowndes Academy 49-29 to win the 2024-25 Class 2A state championship. It was the school’s first state title in basketball since 2016.
Campos was asked what she thought about football. “The closest thing we have to it in Spain is rugby,” she said. “It’s something Americans are really into, and that’s okay. The Hills took me to a game at Auburn University. The huge crowd that was there, the excitement and the pageantry were amazing.”
Being in an Alabama small town was very different than being in Madrid, the national capital and largest city in Spain. The city has a population of more than 3.5 million people and a metropolitan area of close to eight million.
Campos speaks excellent English and credits that to having been taught it throughout her schooling in Spain.
When asked by a member of the club how education in the U.S. compares to what she experienced in Spain, Campos said it’s very different. “I can’t say one is better than the other,” she said. “It’s all about academics in Madrid. You have to study more there. To get an advanced education you have to have excellent grades. Scholarships are available here for those who have done well in community service.”
When asked what she misses about Spain, she said it’s the food. It’s not that the food here is bad by any means, it’s just that she was used to the cuisine that was available in Madrid. “It’s not like Mexican food at all,” she said. “People ask me that all the time. Spanish food and Mexican food are different.”
Something else she will never forget about this past school year is going to her first prom.
Her date was Caue’ Nogueira, an international student from Brazil. Nogueira was a member of the school’s soccer team and has earned a scholarship to continue playing the sport at the college level at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Oregon.
Campos will be going back to Spain to complete her high school education and move on to college. She intends to keep up with her new-found friends when she goes back home.
“I’m so glad I was able to spend my junior year at Springwood,” Campos said. “I will be glad to be back in Spain to reunite with my parents, grandparents and friends, but I will really miss the friends I made at Springwood. I will also miss the host family I lived with and the adoptive grandparents, Joe and Karen Hill.”
Thomas and Ashley Hill had a great experience taking on the role of Campos’ host parents. They liked it so much that they will be hosting another international student next year. “We will have a boy this time,” said Thomas. “His name is Leo, and he’s from Germany. He loves sports and wants to play football, basketball and baseball at Springwood.”
“We will miss Estela a lot,” said Joe Hill, the club’s program chairman for the day. “It was so nice just to be around her. She has such a charming personality.”
He thanked Ann Hixon, the director of Springwood’s international program, for arranging for Campos to come to the school and to spend a school year with the Hill family.
“She was perfect for us,” said Thomas. “She’s definitely become more Southern since August.”
“We’ve even got her in the habit of saying y’all,” said Karen Hill.
“Her English was very good when she first came here,” said Thomas, “but it’s even better now.”