InFocus
By Sarah Robinson
Friendship without Borders
S
eparated by more than 4,000 miles, an unlikely international friendship is thriving. Students from Grove City High School and Max-Planck-Gymnasium, a high school in Heidenheim, Germany, have participated in an exchange program since 1984. “I went to Grove City High School and I was in the (German) exchange program as a student,” says Brad Reeves, a 2002 GCHS graduate and current German teacher. “As a teacher, it was always a goal of mine to get back to my alma mater.” And he did. In 2017, Reeves was hired by GCHS and now heads up the school’s German exchange program, which he describes as the longest continuously running exchange program in the United States until COVID-19 put a temporary halt on it. In a typical year, approximately seven to 11 GCHS students, and 20 to 24 Max-Planck students participate. The German ex14 September/October 2021
GCHS students in front of the New Castle in Stuttgart, Germany, during the 2019 exchange.
change program is reserved for GCHS juniors and seniors who have taken at least three years of German language classes. “It’s really kind of like, ‘OK, you put in that work with an effort to learn the language. Now, let’s go over (there) and see what you can do with it,’” says Rich Bartholomew, the other German teacher at GCHS. The way the exchange works is simple: First, in the spring, GCHS hosts Max-Planck students for three weeks. Then, after the American school year has finished, GCHS students travel to Heidenheim for three weeks. “There’s so much to see for so many different students,” says Reeves. “It doesn’t matter what you’re into. You will always find something in Heidenheim or in the surrounding areas that you can connect with whether it’s art or music, cars, food.” Some of the attractions include a tour of the Steiff factory, which produced the first teddy bear-style toys; visits to Stuttgart, the home of Porsche and Mercedes-Benz; and walking the historic streets of Munich and Frankfurt. Bartholomew remembers taking the students to see part of the Berlin Wall in 2018. One student’s reaction stuck with him. www.DiscoverGroveCity.com
Photos courtesy of Brad Reeves
German exchange program at GCHS has one of the longest histories in country
