Metea Valley High School recently hosted a group of students from Germany as part of an exchange program aimed at fostering cultural exchange and understanding. The students had the opportunity to immerse themselves in American school life, participate in class activities, and explore the differences between their educational system and Metea’s.
Metea Valley’s German Program hosted 14 students from Bammental, Germany. The students visited different schools, gave presentations, met with other cultural groups, and more. Ritika Khurana, a host for one of the students, explained that the exchange program focused on diversity, with students working on projects that highlighted the differences between German and American schools.
“They had a few projects that focused on diversity here, specifically Metea and the differences between here and Germany,” Khurana said.
One of the visiting students, Isla Dornisch, a junior from Germany, shared her impressions of Metea and how living with a host family had been.
“My experience here was very good, everyone was so nice and helpful, and the school is very big, so it’s very difficult to get an overview, but it was very nice,” Dornisch said.“They showed me a lot of things, and it’s nice to experience different things from different people.”
During their stay, many of them got to experience a new kind of schooling. The students attend a bilingual university preparatory school, so they’ve been exposed to English since the 5th grade. Dornisch noted several differences between schooling in the U.S. and Germany, and one major distinction she pointed out was the strict attendance policy at Metea Valley.
“Your attendance is far stricter than in Germany, you have to be there at a certain time and you can’t leave,” Dornish said. “[In Germany] we have different hours every day, like on Mondays I start at 9:25 a.m., but it’s different every day and they end differently.”
There are various reasons as to why the students decided to come on this trip. Dornisch explains her reasoning behind wanting to come to the United States and experience school life here.
“I always saw this high school life in a movie, and I just wanted to know if it’s the same,” Dornisch said.
The exchange program not only gave German students a chance to experience American school life but the students at Metea Valley had the unique opportunity to learn about Germany’s education system and foster international friendships.
“I loved being a host and being here made me wish I was in Germany or going on the exchange trip because they were all so amazing,” Khurana said.
