AN AMERICAN teenager is loving life at Bradford on Avon’s St Laurence School, 30 years after her mother left Westwood to visit the USA as an au pair and made her home there.

Since September, Eliza Sirpenski, born in Rhode Island, has studied at the secondary school, living with her family in Hilperton.

The 16-year-old begged her mother Diane Sirpenski, nee Keam, who went to Colorado at the age of 21 in 1986 and has lived in the country ever since, to let her study in England. Now she says she is reluctant to go back.

“I have made so many friends. It has been a fabulous experience, it is just a shame I cannot stay on any longer,” said Eliza, who lives with her aunt Joanne Keam and still has family who live in Westwood.

“It is a lot more relaxed, with a lot less testing, so I am able to keep on top of things. It was a new experience not having to pick out clothes all the time, which was a nice change.

“When you grow up in the same town for 15 years and you realise that there is so much to do outside of our borders and this was an opportunity I could not turn down.”

Eliza has taken a particular liking to the subjects of history and drama, due to their more interactive and exciting nature, as well as playing hockey and netball for the first time.

“It is much more engaging and interactive which is great,” said Eliza.

“It is fascinating to see history from a non-American perspective. From an English point of view, America did not do as much as they said they did.

“I have got involved in these two new sports which has been great fun and a nice change too.”

Eliza will return home to her family at the end of the school year in June as she harbours a desire for a career in law enforcement with the FBI and thinks American universities will offer better courses.

“She has had an absolute blast. I thought by Christmas she would want to come home but that is not the case at all,” said Mrs Sirpenski.

“She has made a great group of friends and actually prefers it there. She was just 15. I was worried it may not work. This was all her idea and it has been well worth it.

“This is a great experience for her. She was not very happy with school in the States and this appears to have been very beneficial for her. It may even be hard for her to come back she is having such a good time.”