The cultural bond between America and Germany is growing stronger, at least for a pair of high schools in the two countries half a world apart.
Through a student exchange program with Shepard High School in Palos Heights and Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe-Gymnasium in Germany, students have lived together, toured the other’s nation, attended sporting and cultural events, sampled cuisine and built friendships.
This year, with Shepard welcoming a group of 16 students from Goethe, the schools are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the program.
Shepard and Goethe hold ties through the German American Partnership Program, a nonprofit exchange program. The high schools rotate years visiting each other for three weeks.
The 16 Goethe students visiting Shepard through Friday are Annkathrin Adam, Andreas Böhm, Marek Bültel, Sarah Eiselt, Isabelle Fischer, Jonathan Husk, Jonas Kaika, Anahita Amini Moslehabadi, Thuy Van Nighiem, Lena Ohmer, Hannah Röhrich, Florian Schaile, Clara Maria Schardt, Julian Steinbacher, Lena Wolf and Sophie Luca Zimbelmann.
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“This is a great experience for both sides,” Shepard German teacher Jennifer Fischer said. “Students learn about the American and German culture while staying at a host family’s home. It is also a great opportunity to make lifelong friends and see things a different way. The program helps students to be open to other cultures and ideas, while sharpening their German and English skills.”
Host families are chosen through Fischer’s approval.
“I ask my German students in class if they would like to be a host family,” she said, “The kids who are interested fill out an application and they must have a C or higher average and no discipline issues. I know most of the kids and their families very well in my class.”
The Pieroth family, of Crestwood, is hosting their fourth German student. Freshman Brooke Pieroth, 15, said she loves every experience, including spending time with Van Nighiem, her new friend.
“It is the fastest three weeks of your life,” she said.
Her mother, Lynne Pieroth, agreed.
“When they arrive, everybody is a little uncomfortable, and the next thing you know everybody is crying and saying goodbye,” Pieroth said, “I took our student to the Indiana Dunes. She loved climbing the dunes and sitting on the beach while listening to and watching the lake. Even with the clouds we could still see some of the Chicago skyline. She was amazed. How something so simple that is so familiar to us could have such a huge impact on one person is incredible.”
Shepard sophomore Heidi Szymborski’s family, of Worth, is proud to have hosted students multiple times as well.
“Our family has been involved in this program since 2009, and each person we’ve hosted has put a permanent mark on our family,” said Szymborski, 15.
“The exchange program has given us lifelong family, and we continue to keep in touch with all of the students we have hosted,” said her mother, Lauren Mann.
Fischer also hosts a family, as Goethe English teacher Frau Stoebener and her husband, Fabian, have stayed with her.
“They are here to watch over the kids,” Fischer said. “They shadow me and visit other classes during the school day.”
The German students have toured Chicago and attended a White Sox game. Funds were provided for the after-school activities through A Little Bit of Germany, a fundraiser run by Fischer and her students.
“It is a huge German fest in our school cafeteria with German food and the German band, Paloma,” she said.
Shepard students raised $5,300 this year. Any unused funds will go toward Shepard’s 2016 visit to Germany.
Goethe teacher Nicole Stoebener knows the reward of exchange programs so well because when she attended Goethe as a student, she visited Shepard one year.
“For our students, it’s a great opportunity to really get to know the life of the American family and experience life at an American high school because it’s a lot different than Germany,” she said.
Kelly White is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.