Adriana Mingotti and her daughter, Manuela, stand with Nancy and Rich Yonchak of Brookfield. The Yonchaks hosted Mingotti, of Brazil, when she was a high school exchange student.

Adriana Mingotti and her daughter, Manuela, stand with Nancy and Rich Yonchak of Brookfield. The Yonchaks hosted Mingotti, of Brazil, when she was a high school exchange student.

Adriana Mingotti’s perception of Brookfield is largely frozen in 1987.
“When I was here, we had Valley View, we had McDonald’s, we had Dairy Queen,” said the resident of Brazil. “We had the gas station on the corner (of Route 7 and Warren Sharon Road).”
Although Brookfield has gotten smaller, as she termed it, than it was when she was a Rotary International exchange student who spent her senior year at Brookfield High School, some very important things have not changed: Rich and Nancy Yonchak and their daughter, Shelly, and many friends are still here.
Mingotti spent 17 days in Brookfield in September catching up, the first time she had been back since 1995.
The exchange-student experience was deeply rewarding for all involved, with each side surprised at the depth of their ongoing relationship.
“It was like adopting a daughter,” Mrs. Yonchak said, noting that her heart gave a flutter when she saw Adriana at the airport.
The advent of text messaging and the internet has allowed Mingotti to grow closer to her friends in Brookfield, she said.
Yonchak said he was amazed at how the time has flown. Mingotti is now a periodontist and a married mother of two. She lives in Jundiai, Brazil, outside of Sao Paolo.
“I’m really proud,” Yonchak said. “She’s done well for herself. It does not seem like it’s been that long since she’s been here. It seems like maybe a year or two ago, but not 30.”
From about the age of 12, Mingotti had wanted to come to the United States, and she wasn’t even sure why. When she had the opportunity, she wanted to learn English better and see a different culture.
“We just thought it would be a good experience for our kids, because we had the two girls (Lisa and Shelly) at the time,” Yonchak said of initially hosting Mingotti. “We thought it would be a good experience for them to be associated with somebody from another country, to see what the similarities were and the nonsimilarities.”
Mingotti said the year-long stay made her more accepting of people, more flexible, and better able to handle distances.
“There is no distance for love, because for all this time and all this difference we still like each other,” said Mingotti, who turned 50 during her visit.
For this visit, Mingotti brought her 16-year-old daughter, Manuela.
“Manuela might be an exchange student in 2020,” Mingotti said. “We came to see the school and how things could work.”
Manuela, who has been studying English with a private instructor in Brazil, had a picture of America from American television shows, promomovies and music, which she said Brazil has ready access to.
“It is better,” she said of how America compared to her expectations. “I was not expecting the houses was so big and the malls was so big. But it is, and it’s really nice. The people are really sweet.”
Mingotti, who has hosted an exchange student from Columbus in her home, said she did not plan much sightseeing, because she had so many people she wanted to visit. She made sure, though, to see the new school – they took in a volleyball game – and meet some teachers and administrators, and have plenty of time for shopping. Prices are generally much more favorable in the U.S., she said.
“She loves Daffin’s here, and we can’t take it (home),” Mingotti said of Manuela, who also developed a sweet spot for Katie’s Korners and Handel’s ice cream.
Whether Manuela ends up being an exchange student in Brookfield or not, Mingotti wants to bring her son here.
“We’ll be back. We have a 10-year visa now.”