Knowing the importance of international experiences for students, St. Joseph’s Prep in the United States has been organizing trips and exchange programs for half a century. International experiences have been further enhanced over the past decade as the Prep has partnered with several schools around the world to provide exchange experiences for its students, especially to Chile, Spain, and Germany. With travel restrictions in place, those programs now must look a bit different.

• For many decades, the Prep has partnered with Collegium Josephinum Bonn (CoJoBo) in Germany and has been running exchange opportunities with them for the past eight years. This year, under the direction of Prep German teacher Ines Aßmann, the program has shifted to virtual so that 21 students (11 from the Prep and 10 from CoJoBo) can participate despite the health restrictions. The students voted on a topic for the exchange, «Everyday Life» and were matched with a student from Germany. The students met in groups of 5 or 6 and the sessions alternated in German and English. At the end of the program, each student will receive a certificate of participation from the Goethe Institute and will be eligible to become U.S. State Department Exchange Alumni.

• At the same time, Prep Spanish Teacher Gina Gulli has worked with her counterpart at Colegio Irabia-Izaga in Pamplona, Spain hosting virtual group sessions via Zoom and students have remained in contact with their partners on their own through email or Whatsapp. The plan is to travel to Spain in June 2022 to complete the exchange that began in October 2019.

• Meanwhile, Spanish Teacher Ligia Baland has started a pen pal program for her students with Colegio San Ignacio el Bosque in Chile, a school the Prep has partnered with for exchange programs for more than a decade. They take turns speaking in English and Spanish so they can practice their target language.