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News & Photos
Anatomy of a Foreign Exchange Program
With the seventh exchange between Faust Gymnasium, a public school in Staufen, Germany, and McDonogh nearing its successful completion in early November 2005, 20 Faust sophomores and juniors are writing thank-you notes and scanning McDonogh yearbooks to recall those they met.
Coordinators Joachim Sprotte (Faust Gymnasium) and Buck Lyon-Vaiden (McDonogh), working together for the last time before Sprotte’s retirement, reflect on why this partnership has worked so well for their students, for their countries, and for them.
“We have more or less the same views on all the things that are important about the exchanges and we’re both experienced,” says Sprotte. They agree on the nearly four- week duration, the emphasis on group activities with hosts and guests, and the thorough orientations beforehand to ease culture shock. Both know how travel educates.
Plus, both are meticulous planners. “I keep copious notes in a spiral notebook in my pocket—what we did, how much it cost,” says Lyon-Vaiden. “I take the previous year’s book and refer to it.”
Lyon-Vaiden regards the exchanges as “grassroots diplomacy.” Time and time again, he and Sprotte have seen exchange partners and their families form lasting bonds. Last spring, four exchange alumni did their senior projects in Germany. In other years, alumni have returned to Staufen with parents and siblings. “That is what we aim for, if possible. These partnerships continue and involve whole families,” he adds.
“And for both our countries, it’s important to know people and culture,” says Sprotte. In a small country like Germany, a heavy exporter, the country benefits when its citizens are multilingual and are prepared for the global marketplace. “We put great emphasis on education and languages.” Sprotte explains. “Our school has eight exchanges. That lets you know how important this is to us.” A total of 60 Faust students applied for the U.S.-McDonogh exchange in 2005 before a faculty committee chose the 20 participants.
Both Sprotte and Lyon-Vaiden had run other exchanges before they connected their two schools in 1994. McDonogh, along with St. Paul’s, Bryn Mawr, Lutheran, Mt. St. Joe and North County High School, had participated in a group exchange with a different German school from 1979 to 1993. Faust was linked to a public school in Pennsylvania.
Lyon-Vaiden and Sprotte struck up a friendship in the late 1980s at a German-American Partnership Program (the umbrella organization for German exchanges) meeting for exchange coordinators. Lyon-Vaiden visited Sprotte in his hometown of Freiburg during several of McDonogh’s spring vacation trips to Germany. When both decided to look for new exchange partnerships, they checked out each other’s schools and knew the chemistry was right.
And still is, although a key piece of it will change when Sprotte retires at the end of this school year. “The exchange is more than just me,” he says. “Why should there be an end to it? It is a phenomenal benefit to students.”
With the seventh exchange between Faust Gymnasium, a public school in Staufen, Germany, and McDonogh nearing its successful completion in early November 2005, 20 Faust sophomores and juniors are writing thank-you notes and scanning McDonogh yearbooks to recall those they met.
Coordinators Joachim Sprotte (Faust Gymnasium) and Buck Lyon-Vaiden (McDonogh), working together for the last time before Sprotte’s retirement, reflect on why this partnership has worked so well for their students, for their countries, and for them.
“We have more or less the same views on all the things that are important about the exchanges and we’re both experienced,” says Sprotte. They agree on the nearly four- week duration, the emphasis on group activities with hosts and guests, and the thorough orientations beforehand to ease culture shock. Both know how travel educates.
Plus, both are meticulous planners. “I keep copious notes in a spiral notebook in my pocket—what we did, how much it cost,” says Lyon-Vaiden. “I take the previous year’s book and refer to it.”
Lyon-Vaiden regards the exchanges as “grassroots diplomacy.” Time and time again, he and Sprotte have seen exchange partners and their families form lasting bonds. Last spring, four exchange alumni did their senior projects in Germany. In other years, alumni have returned to Staufen with parents and siblings. “That is what we aim for, if possible. These partnerships continue and involve whole families,” he adds.
“And for both our countries, it’s important to know people and culture,” says Sprotte. In a small country like Germany, a heavy exporter, the country benefits when its citizens are multilingual and are prepared for the global marketplace. “We put great emphasis on education and languages.” Sprotte explains. “Our school has eight exchanges. That lets you know how important this is to us.” A total of 60 Faust students applied for the U.S.-McDonogh exchange in 2005 before a faculty committee chose the 20 participants.
Both Sprotte and Lyon-Vaiden had run other exchanges before they connected their two schools in 1994. McDonogh, along with St. Paul’s, Bryn Mawr, Lutheran, Mt. St. Joe and North County High School, had participated in a group exchange with a different German school from 1979 to 1993. Faust was linked to a public school in Pennsylvania.
Lyon-Vaiden and Sprotte struck up a friendship in the late 1980s at a German-American Partnership Program (the umbrella organization for German exchanges) meeting for exchange coordinators. Lyon-Vaiden visited Sprotte in his hometown of Freiburg during several of McDonogh’s spring vacation trips to Germany. When both decided to look for new exchange partnerships, they checked out each other’s schools and knew the chemistry was right.
And still is, although a key piece of it will change when Sprotte retires at the end of this school year. “The exchange is more than just me,” he says. “Why should there be an end to it? It is a phenomenal benefit to students.”