Bringing the World Home

Read more about Evansville’s international community in the January/February 2025 feature story.

Marjorie Bergen and her husband, Scott, didn’t have children of their own, but their exchange student from Montenegro became just like one. Jason and Kristy Denton, meanwhile, say a young guest from Spain was a terrific “big sister” for their 9-year-old son, Blaize.

Matea Radovic arrived at the Bergens’ home when she was a 17-year-old high school junior, and she stayed two years, graduating from Evansville Day School. After a year at Butler University in Indianapolis, she finished college at the University of Southern Indiana, earning a degree in biochemistry. She’s now in medical school in Frankfurt, Germany.

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Most exchange students are in the U.S. for only a year, but Matea wanted a longer stay and her family in Montenegro was fully supportive. “She’s just a super strong girl, and she’s had a very clear plan for her life since she was young,” Marjorie says.

Matea’s relationship with her host family became even deeper as Scott fought multiple myeloma, ultimately passing away in November 2022. “She lost a dad,” Marjorie says of Matea.

As the Bergens vetted potential exchange students in 2018, it was Scott who latched onto Matea. Marjorie says she embraced her time in Evansville and at Day School, where she was a cheerleader and homecoming queen as well as a high academic achiever.

“She was the perfect child for us,” Marjorie says.

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The Dentons also found who they would describe as a perfect child. Martina Iglesias Grande, from Madrid, Spain, attended Castle High School during her year in Newburgh, Indiana, and became immersed in the sports programs and culture.

Martina shared her country’s holiday traditions with the Dentons — in Spain, Christmas is more focused on the Magi from the Bible than Santa Claus. She traveled with the Dentons to Jamaica, the American West, and the Great Smoky Mountains.

“It was really magical,” Kristy Denton says. “We still talk to her all the time … She was homesick when she went back to Spain.”

Blaize, for his part, also enjoyed having Martina around. “She always played with me, and I never felt alone,” he says.