For more than a decade, students at Bishop O’Connell High School in
Arlington have been participating in a weeklong exchange program with their
counterparts across the Atlantic. For many years, it was a back and forth
exchange with students in France — one year O’Connell hosts, and then the next
year they travel. But over the past five years, the program has expanded to
include a sister school in Spain as well. So in the middle of October, 30
students from O’Connell boarded a plane together at Dulles Airport, bound for
Paris. In Paris, half the group headed to the town of Reims — just over an hour
and a half drive east of the city — while the rest of the group boarded a
connecting flight to Barcelona.
Students are paired up with their peers, where they enjoy going
to class, sightseeing and spending leisure time with their families and
friends. In Reims, O’Connell students and teachers have built strong
relationships with their counterparts at Lycée Privé Jean XXIII, a Catholic
school with more than 600 students. Time with the host families over the
weekend included trips to Paris or Belgium, as well as opportunities to
participate in normal weekend activities for teenagers in France. The teachers
were invited to a dinner party hosted by Jean XXIII faculty members, including
representatives from the Arlington-Reims Sister City Committee. The rest of the
week included classroom time, as well as local history tours, a Mass at the basilica
in Reims, and a visit with the mayor.
In Barcelona, O’Connell students paired up with their hosts from
Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola. During the course of the week, the group toured
the city, visiting the 800-year-old Santa Maria del Mar church, as well as
markets, the beach and the Olympic Village. They attended biology, Spanish and
Latin classes at SIL and were able to sit in on a journalism class and take a
tour with students at Abat Oliba University.
“My week in Spain was one of the best weeks of my life,” said
senior Natalie Archer. “I made a lifelong friend and learned more Spanish than
I thought I was capable of. After the first day, I began to think in Spanish.”
“I was amazed at how quickly I was able to understand normal
conversations,” said junior A.J. Haines. He is now looking forward to opening
his home to his host next year.
“I am so pleased with the great tradition of this exchange
program, and happy to say that we are expanding its scope one more time,” said
Adriene Cunningham, O’Connell’s world language department chair and Latin
teacher. “Beginning in 2020, we will open this up to our Latin students, who
will focus on the study of Roman France as seen through the ancient city of
Durocororum (modern day Reims).”