Several St. Louis High School students departed Wednesday, April 3, traveling to Germany as a part of the exchange student program called LINKS. LINKS stands for “Learning through International Networking for Knowledge and Sharing” and this exchange student program serves to enrich the education of students involved in the program by allowing them to experience other cultures first hand.
The St. Louis branch of this program is advised by Jenny Everitt, Jeff Oswald, and Ashleigh Shaw. All these advisors have worked themselves tirelessly to ensure that all students involved have the best all around experience. Mrs. Everitt discussed the “behind the scenes” of setting up this program, “Finding participants to host the Germans was the most difficult part, I think. Since LINKS has been on hold for several years due to Covid, kids weren’t familiar with it. We don’t have anyone still in school at SLHS that participated in the program before it was shut down. Getting kids excited about it and getting parents on board with hosting a stranger in their home for two weeks was the hardest part.”
Intricacies behind this program aside, many of the students who started the journey to Germany had mixed feelings. Senior Josh Dew shared his thoughts on his departure with, “I’m very excited to go on this trip as I was a part of LINKS since freshman year, but due to Covid, it wasn’t until this year (senior year) that we could have the opportunity to travel to Germany. I’m most excited to visit some of the cities in Germany like Hamburg and to experience the culture and everyday lifestyle of a German.”
Once they land in Frankfurt, Germany, SLHS students will then travel to Ludwigslust where they will stay in the surrounding area with host families for the duration of their visit. During the trip, students will travel to Hamburg, Berlin, Wobbelin, and Schwerin to learn about German history and culture. While they learn about Germany and its culture, the visiting students will in turn teach Germans about America and its culture by visiting middle and elementary schools and presenting about American media, food, and other cultural aspects.
