The CHE community rose to the occasion to be great host-siblings and host-families.  

"Not taking German as my language, I think that this experience was even more impactful. I learned so much about Germany and German culture from Fra. Even more, I found that people from opposite sides of the earth, people who didn’t know each other at all beforehand, could become great friends in the blink of an eye. " - Lee Bloom, class of '23

When asked what helped make the exchange work on the CHE side,  both parents and students lauded the early communication with their German partner student, as well as the communication between families here at East during the exchange.  Thanks to social media, both students and families were able to get to know each other far ahead of the actual exchange dates.  Gone are the days of hosting a total stranger.  By the time they arrived, the students from Germany were already fast friends with their CHE hosts.  In addition, CHE German teacher Mr. Graff, and his counterparts in Germany, took pains to make sure that the student matches were the best possible.

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8 students will be travelling to Europe to complete the Exchange.  I am sure the words of Herr Ohlmer, one of the English teachers from Bad Homburg who helped organize the trip, will be prophetic: 

"What fantastic experiences we have had!  I hope you will feel the same when flying out of Germany in July!" 

For families asking themselves: "Do we want to take on the responsibility of 'having another kid' for almost 2 weeks?", please see these comments from parents from Spring 2023, which I include here with permission.  (Students from our other partner school will be coming in the fall of 2023, so you won't have to wait long!)  See this page: 2023-24 Exchange with Munich 

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1.

--Beth Sobus, parent to Hunter Sobus (9th grade at time of hosting)

Our family absolutely loved the experience of hosting an exchange student through the GAPP Program. Sebastian was delightful, and an easygoing, pleasant, agreeable guest! It was something slightly out of our comfort zone that we agreed to do as a family, and we all were able to take part. It was definitely the most work for our son, the host student, but he embraced it fully too. We did some things in and around Philly that we had never done as a family, which was fun! Our only regret is not having more time, and maybe a little more flexibility to show him things we love slightly further from home. Our son plays a sport, and practices and games kept him tied up most of the afternoons. We are thankful to have had such a nice overall group of families participating in the exchange, and we all helped one another when needed. 

As parents, our favorite moment was having the whole group of exchange students and host students over for a bonfire and desserts. It was nice to see them interacting and giving them a traditional American experience - s'mores, trampoline, basketball, table tennis. It was such a nice group of kids on both sides! 

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2. Jayne Bloom, parent to Cary and Lee Bloom (9th and 12th grade, at time of hosting)

Well, none of our children even take German, so we weren't expecting to do this. But I couldn't ignore the look of panic on Herr Graff's face when he showed up at a PTA meeting in the fall desperate to find families to host a student. It's been a hard few years in our family dealing with loss, which would seem a reason not to open our house to a foreign teenager sight unseen. But I'm so glad we did. Not only was Fra well matched in our household of boys (me the only exception), it was like he belonged here. Jetlagged on the first day, he went with us to my son Cary's late night hockey game and cheered on East. He became a regular at the JCC basketball courts with Lee, attended a Shabbat service (having never met someone Jewish before no less), turned into a Sixers fan and watched Hamilton with us with the help of German sub-titles. 

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3.  Andrew Aeillo, 12th grader at time of hosting

I take German [but] [taking German] should not make a difference, the exchange students all spoke English very well. My favorite moments from hosting were the day trip to Cape May, the Phillies Game, and getting to know my student and making [him] feel like family. 

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4. 10th grade student at time of hosting

I thought the exchange was a good opportunity to learn how life is different in other countries, and also getting to hear other people talk German was helpful to learn more German and how to pronounce things. 

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5.  Megan Pedersen, 10th grade at time of hosting

Even though I don’t take German, I loved doing the exchange. It was super cool to be part of the exchange, and I even managed to learn a little bit of German. We really bonded together and I got closer to one of my friends who also participated in the exchange. It was difficult to stay on top of school, since most of my afternoon was packed with social events.... Despite this, I really enjoyed the time we spent together and definitely recommend anyone considering it to sign up. Several of my classmates were talking about how they had just met the German students in their French class and that they wished they could host. 

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6.  Elizabeth McDonald, parent to River McDonald, 10th grade at time of hosting

This exchange program was a wonderful opportunity for my high schooler, but also for our entire family. Welcoming a German exchange student into our family was a learning experience for us all!