At an age where most teenagers are close to home, junior Phoenix Dailey embraced the opportunity to study in a different country. Dailey’s passion for the German language and culture originally started with his brother and eventually when he took the class in middle school. He is now going to be taking his senior year of high school in Germany, and will be coming back to America afterwards to finish his high school career at Westford Academy.
In his freshman year, Dailey had made the top 99th percentile for the National German Exam and won a three-week trip to Germany where he fell in love with the people, culture, and language.
Dailey will also be attending the German Exchange program this summer, where other WA students will come back to the United States after attending the Gymnasium Corvinianum in Northeim, Germany. However, unlike his classmates, Dailey will be prolonging his stay for another year as he immerses himself in the German culture. Dailey’s excitement around this opportunity to learn even more about the culture and language is guiding his decision to study abroad.
“It’s gonna be a great time, and I’m really excited to go there with all the Americans and have such a fun time,” Dailey said. “I love these people, and I love the Germans, so it’s my favorite people mixed together.”
According to Dailey, one of the German students who was a part of the exchange had decided to come back to Westford for another semester, making Dailey realize that he wanted to do something similar. According to Dailey, this would not have been able to happen without the help of his German teachers Tim Welch and Ashley Smith. Dailey had reached out to Smith about doing a year abroad, and suddenly it all became possible.
“I was excited, yet not fully surprised, when Dailey started inquiring about spending a full year abroad at the Corvi,” Smith said. “It’s such a great opportunity that if you have the means and the ability to figure out the logistics for, you should definitely take advantage of it.”
According to Smith, she contacted one of the teachers from Germany who is a part of the exchange in order to help Dailey plan his time abroad.
“I want to go to college in Germany, I just love it there,” Dailey said. “I love the language, the people that I met, and I definitely want to involve German into my future.”
According to Dailey, he was able to get in contact with a host family using references and friends he made during the exchange. However, the family is only able to host Dailey for the first half of the school year because the German student, whom he is in contact with, will be coming back to America during the second half of the school year in order to do a similar study overseas.
“It’s a really cool opportunity for [the German student], and just shows you how involved people are with Germans and Americans switching schools and studying abroad,” Dailey said.
According to Dailey, he is still looking for a host family for the second half of the year, though he says that the various teachers helping him are optimistic that he will find a second host family. Furthermore, Dailey has even more aspirations for the possibility of staying there for both 12th and 13th grade.
“The only thing that’s stopping me from graduating there, unless it’s just not allowed, is if I can’t find a host family,” Dailey said. “Otherwise, I would definitely do it.”
According to Dailey, in 12th and 13th grade German students focus on final exams called Arbitur. Typically, students that are from other countries go during the 11th grade because it’s easier, and the final two years are important for graduation.
Dailey is aware that staying in Germany for 12th grade is going to be academically challenging, especially after talking with Welch, who had also studied abroad in Germany. According to Welch, the language barrier may be a big obstacle, therefore Dailey would like to avoid speaking English there and wants to primarily focus on the German language.
Dailey’s plans for his senior year of high school are supported by his family, especially his mom.
“She knows how valuable an experience like this can be with her having done a year abroad in Italy in college,” Dailey said.
Dailey is also hoping that this trip can help him be more prepared for college and beyond, helping him become more independent without his parents being in Germany with him.
“I really want to show people that you can do something that’s not conventional, because I think people do years abroad all the time, it’s just rare to do it in the middle of high school, especially for senior year,” Dailey said. “I have all of these friends that I’ve already established, and I’m going to be missing all of my senior activities with those people, but I just want to show people that you should do what you want to do, not what’s traditional.”
