NEWCOMB, N.Y. -
Jorge Cristobal is learning about voltage in his favorite class at the Newcomb Central School. He is an exchange student from a much larger community in Spain.
"Like every corner you have a shop. Here you don't have corners," Cristobal said.
In the 1980s the Essex County community was a booming mining town with 1,500 residents. More than 350 children attended the pre-K through 12 school. Now the population is down to just over 400. Just 53 students attended the local school a few years ago. Ashley Miller, who is now a junior, was the only student in her class through third-grade.
"I was bored at times, but I think I got to do more things than a class would get to do," she said.
"I did look at the possibility of closing," said Skip Hults, the Newcomb school superintendent.
Instead of sending kids more than half an hour away to neighboring school districts, Hults took on the daunting task of growing the student body at a time when the town's population was declining.
"For us to have the growth here, we need to bring in not just international students, but urban students," Hults said.
Students like Thais Almeida. The exchange student from Brazil passed up opportunities to study in larger cities like Los Angeles-- instead choosing to spend a year abroad in this rural community.
"Since it is a small school, teachers have more attention for you and they can treat you as an individual and not as a classroom," Almeida said.
Over the past five years, 43 students from 21 different countries have studied at Newcomb. Today, 95 students attend the school-- the highest number since 1986. Thirteen of them are from foreign countries.
"They bring a lot of new information, like in history class we learn about their history, too," Ashley Miller said.
"So when you mix them in with some of my local students it really pushes them to be better," math teacher Edward LaCourse said.
While teachers support the international program, they say it does create challenges. Sometimes more than half of the students in their classes are exchange students.
"You are not just bringing in students from different cultures with different languages, they are also people who have different abilities and different personalities that impact the dynamics of the classroom," social studies teacher Kathy Larkin said.
And it's not just international students saving the school from closure. Michaela Moses grew up in Queensbury. But at the beginning of this school year she moved in with her grandparents in Newcomb so she could go to school there.
"It's really important to me because I want to be a doctor when I grow up and that's a lot of college and a lot of money," she said.
All the teachers at Newcomb are adjunct professors of North Country Community College. Moses can take college level classes at the school and graduate with 70 college credits and an associate degree in math and science. This will allow Moses to enroll into med school as a college junior.
"We meet the requirements of the state on one hand, on the other hand we meet the requirements of the college," Hults said.
As the school looks to attract more international and urban students, it is considering building a dorm.
"Thirteen to 15 kids-- trying to find homes for them-- that is next to impossible," Hults said.
The dorm project for as many as 50 students hinges on legislation in Congress that would ease restrictions on the non-immigrant F-1 visa program for public secondary schools. Exchange students who attend public schools can only stay for one year, but if they attend private schools they can stay as long as they like.
"It puts money in the pocket of the school districts and we know many of the small school districts are hurting, so this is a real good opportunity," said Rep. Bill Owens, D-New York.
Unfortunately, it will not be in time for Jorge Cristobal. He will leave at the end of the school year but hopes he can return to attend college in the United States.
"I would like to be here more time," he said. "I enjoy everything."
Owens says many other school districts across the country have expressed interest in copying this model, including the Hartford School District in Vermont.
