Foreign student exchanges are a common activity across all WA language programs. Just this week, new Spanish exchange students have arrived for their two-week stay. What is so unique about four specific exchange students, is that they chose to have an extended stay.
On Aug. 23, long-term exchange students Louis Hasenbeck, Kjell Wode, Noa Zinn, and Tariq Schober arrived from their small state of Lower Saxony, Germany. These students are planning on staying in Westford between six months to a full year. While some will be staying with the same families who hosted them during the previous short-term exchange in October of 2023, others are staying with new host families.
“I came to WA in October of last year thanks to the three-week exchange program WA has with my school. This exchange was my motivation to learn English […]. There was so little time in October to absorb every aspect of WA compared to now,” Zinn said.
This experience provides new opportunities that a short-term exchange student would not have. Instead of just shadowing a student from WA, long-term exchange students get to treat their stay as a completely normal high school experience here. During their time here, the exchange students will attend Westford Academy just as any other student would, enrolling in classes and electives of their choice and having all sports and clubs open to them. They will also get to participate in school events and activities such as Homecoming and Friday night football games.
These opportunities allow exchange students from Germany to gain fresh perspectives, as they are not used to having so many options available at school, both academically and extracurricularly.
“WA is very different academically because [students] have way more options for classes than we do,” Hasenbeck said. “The system with sports is also different because there are school sports and teams and we don’t have that [in Germany].”
With these fresh perspectives also comes differences and changes. The students stated that, while they will miss their families, something else they will miss is the food.
Since the exchange students have more time here, they can form closer friendships than they would if they were staying for the typical two to three week period. The exchange students can also form close bonds with their host families.
This is not only an opportunity for students coming from Germany, but for all students at WA, especially the ones participating in the German Exchange Program. These are the WA students who have just visited Germany over the summer and brought back the current German exchange students.
“I love the German Exchange Program and how they get to come and share their culture with us, and the opportunity it gives us to meet new people from outside of the country,” junior Alex Miller said.
As for the exchange students, they are looking forward to learning about the American culture, and making the most of their stay here in all different forms.
“I am really looking forward to experiencing WA as a student instead of a visitor,” Zinn said. “Besides that, I’m excited for the American holidays and to spend time with my friends. I believe we’ll have a great time together.”
