Foreign Exchange Program
The Academe of the Oaks Foreign Exchange Program offers students the opportunity to greatly expand their worldview by becoming immersed in the language and culture of another country for a period of time. Participating in an exchange is both exciting and challenging for high school students. It strengthens their self-confidence and their ability to meet new challenges. The best time for an exchange is in the 10th grade year or in the beginning of the 11th grade year. Academe takes great care in assessing a student’s readiness for an exchange.
An exchange partner and his or her family will welcome and host our student. Our student will share in the host family’s daily life and attend the local Waldorf high school with the exchange partner. In return, our student's family will welcome the exchange partner to the United States and Academe of the Oaks. The exchanges happen consecutively, not concurrently. The Academe student and his or her exchange partner are together throughout both parts of the exchange.
It is a big step for a student and family to engage in an exchange program, and many considerations are involved in the decision. For more information, please click on the links on this page.
Academe senior Christopher Alston attended a Waldorf high school in Lima, Peru during the first semester of his junior year. About his experience, Christopher wrote,
Although it was difficult to keep up with conversations at the beginning, my first impression was that the language barrier was the only clear difference between my class of the next two months and any class at Academe. We make the same kind of jokes, do the same types of things on the weekends and are generally interested in the same things.
The classes were interesting because of the nuances of trying to learn in another language. Having to write reports and other assignments in Spanish was one of the best ways for me to learn the language. Math and chemistry are more or less the same anywhere, but classes like geography and current events definitely take on a different slant when you are in another country.
...I'm glad I went to Peru. I hope very much that I'll be able to keep in contact with all the people I met and sooner or later have a chance to return. Spending this extended time in another country has made me want to visit other countries and experience other cultures even more.
