By Natasha Singh
Staff Writer

Ever wonder why there are foreign exchange students at Westford Academy throughout the entire year?

Students may be familiar with exchange trips where students travel from around the world to visit WA for a short period of time, and vice-versa. Four students from different areas of the world are currently enrolled in the school as long-term exchange students, meaning they stay here for the entire year.

German teacher Timothy Welch is the local coordinator for G.A.P.P, the  German American Partnership Program, which works with various programs along with G.A.P.P. to assist and organize the long-term exchange students trips and the students themselves.

According to Welch typically foreign students are able to choose which part of America they wish to live in, and the program will search for a family and school nearby. Also if the teachers knows the student personally, such as from the partner exchange program, then they can directly transfer without the hassle of  a third party.

“The German exchange is one of the reasons I became a German teacher, because before that, language was just what I learned in class and after it was…real. It wasn’t just anything in a textbook or listening activities.”

As American students, it is relatively uncommon to spend a year abroad said Welch. However the students who come to American schools to take a gap year, come to improve their English. English is a universally well known language that has become a necessity to succeed in modern day world said Welch.

Essentially, the student comes abroad to improve their English and then go back to their original country to continue their studies.

As a foreign student coming here in the beginning of the school year, they  would commonly experience some amount of culture shock said Welch. How would it feel to travel to a country completely different to your own? Where the people speak in a different language than yours?

According to Welch, leaving friends and family behind to travel to a new nation seems relatively saddening, but at the same time it seems exciting to meet people and things.  As the long-term students move on the school year, everything balances when they finish adjusting to their environments.

“Overall the experience [as a foreign exchange student] is overwhelming and positive , but there is that initial kind of getting used to [a country new to you] it,” said Welch.

For students at WA who wish to meet new people and host a foreign exchange student, Welch highly encourages you to do so.

“I had a real connection to a host family, and real friends and they all spoke this language. It was a whole new world. So it was really something that was life-changing for me because I ended up pursuing a career based on that experience.”

 The Ghostwriter has featured some of the exchange students who are at WA for the year. Click here to read about Chiaro Peters.