A blazer worth 1000 words

Have you met Bruce the shark? He is the little plushie on Diego’s shoulder adventuring Australia.

Have you met Bruce the shark?

No, not the one from Finding Nemo or maybe the great white you might have faced while snorkeling. Bruce is the fun-sized soft-toy that has been adventuring Australia on the shoulders of young Diego Fernando Navarro Montpellier.

Bruce is among more than 60 trinkets cluttered on his blazer, making it more memorabilia than dinner attire. Nothing stands out but each pin, plushie or portrait has a tale to tell. Add it all up and it guides the reader into the story of how this teen originally from Mexico City made his way to the small Aussie country town of Gunnedah.

Rotary pin

Diego is a part of the Rotary’s exchange program, where high school teens can experience life in another country. Filling their Rotary blazers with trinkets is a tradition kept up by those exchange students.

“Each one of these badges represents a memory,” he said. “Represents friends [and] people that I have a really special bond with.”

“As you can see, I have too many badges,” he joked.

It could be hard to believe that other students pack on more pins than Diego but he stated that some do.

The intention of the exchange program was to “challenge teens globally to step outside their comfort zone and expand their world view by entering a new one,” as stated by Rotary’s website.

Diego finished high school in Mexico last year but still went through with the exchange program for an authentic Aussie high school experience.

He managed to get his preferred pick of Australia after scoring high in Rotary’s tests. His second option was France, which has a little to do with the French last name he inherited and the history of a relative who fought in the first Franco-Mexican war, the ‘Pastry War’.

Now at the end of his exchange, he encourages anyone with the capability to host students or give it a go themselves.

Some of the benefits he recognised was becoming fluent in a language, having an international experience, becoming more independent and having more friends.

“I was a really introverted guy back in Mexico and I really did not have a lot of friends. Going to another country and doing my exchange gave me a whole new perspective on life and it was a perfect time to focus on myself and build the best version of myself,” he said.

Bruce

The plushie shark on his shoulder was named after the star animatronic from the Jaws movies franchise. Bruce (or “this little guy”, as Diego called him) was from the encounter centre in Nelson Bay, where Diego visited with his second host family. With Bruce being such a strong presence on his shoulder, it is almost foresight into discovering sharks are his favourite animal. He felt in his element meeting the sea creature in the form of what he believed to be a 3-4 metre reef shark.

Bridge climbing

It was a “beautiful day” for Diego to experience the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge climb but not just because of the weather. This was his first opportunity to be in Sydney (outside of arriving at the airport) with the experience given as a gift from his first host family.

He was taken to the bridge climb for his 18th birthday, making it one of the first memories he made in Australia.

Japanese pins

The few Japanese pins on his blazer may give onlookers the assumption that Diego saw cherry blossoms in person. However, the pins are among the few collected from other exchange students. These students build relationships when they gather for information weekends. Many of his badges spark memories of the first brief weekend in Bonny Hills, where most were collected.

Goodbye sign

A powerful but humble item on Diego’s blazer is one of the drawings pinned to his back. In Spanish it says “Have a good trip” and was created lovingly with pictures of hearts, a plane, (a sad face to show he will be missed) along with the Australian and Mexican flags.

It was made by his 13-year-old cousin, Sara. She was among the family gathered to see him off on his big trip to Australia in a moment described as “really special”.

“I absolutely love them,” he said fondly about his cousins.

This was his first time travelling alone and the anticipation was not the only feeling experienced among his blood-born family.

“My parents and family told me how proud they were of me … It was a really emotional moment,” he said.

A back view of the blazer which mainly features drawings.

Envelope from Farrer

This envelope was from a camp at Lake Keepit with other Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School students.

Each student at the camp had to draw their personality.

The gym, tacos, the Mexican flag, drawing and music were the few things that Diego had chosen to represent himself with on the paper.

The students even had the opportunity to leave messages for each other.

“I got too many of those from my friends at Farrer,” he said. “It was really special for me as well.”

Red poppy

While he has no relation to any Anzacs, he still proudly wears their remembrance symbol to honour them anyway. It came from the people intended as his second host family in Lismore but the stay did not eventuate because of distance. He still had the opportunity to spend some time with them which was where he learnt about the Anzacs. “I absolutely loved [the host family],” he said.”They treated me like any other of their sons or daughters.”

“Peaceful”. The one word that summed up Gunnedah for Diego. After originally living in Mexico City, he then moved with his family to another city. He was greeted with the hustle of Sydney Airport last year before making it to the small city of Tamworth. So upon setting into the life of Gunnedah with his last exchange family, he drew in a breath of calm, rural life.