High school life offers a number of new experiences and opportunities to students from athletics to friendships to planning for the future. But Heberto Martinez Acosta is having more experience than most. He is a foreign exchange student from Mexico, and he says that even with the differences, he is enjoying his time here.

“Being an exchange student has undoubtedly been a new and quite different experience in my life,” he said. “I honestly have enjoyed the experience as a whole. My goal was to be an outstanding student and be able to pursue playing sports. So far, I’d say I’ve achieved both of those goals since school is going great and I was able to try tennis out. By far the biggest differences are both the town itself and even some of the people. I believe Bartlesville has a population of around 35,000 people, but I come from a city with over 1.1 million, so right off the bat, the town and things to do are way different. Secondly, the cultures are somewhat different in some respects, but I’m glad I’ve got to meet and get close with many new people here in this town and even in other towns as I’ve become good friends with other guys that I’ve met during tennis tournaments.”

Heberto is a junior at Bartlesville High School currently. He is a member of the tennis team and has played basketball in the past. Throughout both sports, he says that he has made some great memories.

“The highlight of my short tennis career was my first varsity tournament,” he said. “It was an overnight tournament with the whole varsity team. It was so much fun and by far one of the highlights of this year. As for my basketball career back home, the highlight of it was when my team and I competed in a tournament in Belize.”

Acosta has put in a lot of work in order to become the athlete that he is today. But he says that staying motivated was just remembering what he was working for.

“My motivation is trying to be the best version of myself in the near future,” he said. “Being able to feel accomplished, satisfied, and proud.”