For the first time in forty-one years, Claudia Mora, a trade student alumni from the class of 1978, came to visit Smoky to see all that had changed. She came from Columbia after graduating from high school there to improve her English here in the United States. Mora also got involved with the tennis team and traveled to the surrounding states for matches, getting to see more of western side of the States. “I used to play tennis, so I got to visit many states to play and represent the school. I got to visit states like Kansas, Nebraska, and Utah. There are actual [weather] seasons here,” Mora said.

Columbia and the USA’s cultures are very different, yet for Mora the new differences to her were amazing. Compared to her private girl’s school back in Columbia, Smoky was a whole other type of world with the differences in student count going from about 350 students to 1,000 including both girls and boys. Mora enjoyed the new culture and the friendly people that supported her. “So it’s different, the food, and the music, and the clothes, everything…[There were] lots of really good families and friends and students [all around me],” Mora said.

Now living back in Columbia, Mora had decided to visit her middle daughter, one out of three now adult daughters, that lives in Denver. Mora is now retired from working as a bank manager within a school facilitated bank for parents. Having come back to the school to take a tour, she was able to find her senior picture in her class yearbook from long ago. “I came to  visit and told [my daughter] that I would like to visit Smoky and for them to come with me. Everything [when I was in school here was] like a dream come true,” Mora said.