14-06-2025
Rather specific study-abroad wish of German exchange student comes true at Pennsylvania fire station
NEW HOLLAND, Pa. (WHTM) — For most foreign exchange students, just the opportunity to study abroad and make new friends, perhaps while learning a new language, is exciting enough.
And indeed, 17-year-old Linus Weber — following in the footsteps of his mother, Anne Weber, who was a foreign exchange student back when she was his age — would have been happy with that.
But if you have a dream, why not go for it?
'They ask you to put down your hobbies — your interests,' said Linus Weber, who is a volunteer firefighter back home in Lower Saxony, Germany. 'And that's why I put down that I'm heavily involved in the fire department.'
Not a new interest: Weber has been involved in firefighting, in one way or another, since he was 6 years old and in a program for junior firefighters.
Weber realized he had a rather specific wish.
'From the beginning, I'm like, that's really unrealistic,' he said. 'So I tried to not think about it. But the wish was there.'
Wish granted, after the exchange student organization contacted Garden Spot Fire Rescue.
'Next thing I know, there's a German living in my house,' joked Collin Burkholder, 21, the stepson of Jared Nolt, who is the department's chief engineer.
That was 10 months ago. Now Weber and Burkholder are like brothers, including that 'we fight like brothers,' Burkholder was sure to note — and sure enough, Weber gave Burkholder a hard time about how his hair was combed before they spoke Friday to a camera.
Nolt and his wife/Burkholder's mom are like parents to Weber, who races Nolt to try to get into the fire engine first when it's time to run a call.
'It's beautiful,' said Anne Weber, in town with her husband and two other sons to help Linus pack and return home to Germany. 'He had a new family for 10 months.'
Then there's the broader firefighting 'family' — just as true in Germany, Linus Weber says, as in America. And any good family concerns itself with raising the next generation.
So remember how Linus got into this business when he was just 6 years old? Well he spent his last week working alongside other Garden Spot firefighters to help children build skills in a weeklong cadet camp at the fire station.
'It was a great time,' Weber said. 'But I have to say goodbye.'
Time to fly back to Germany, where the Nolt/Burkholder family has a standing invitation. Will they go someday?
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'Absolutely,' Collin Burkholder said. 'I would leave tomorrow to go back with Linus if i could.'
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