By Christian Hartzog | Contributing Writer
September 27, 2024
Seventy-six percent of Americans have traveled abroad before, including many Anderson students, as part of foreign exchange programs. With upcoming opportunities for students, these programs such as CBYX (Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, a German exchange program) continue to be available to current students despite linguistic and financial barriers.
Many exchange programs are accessed via foreign language classes, but many are completely separate; CBYX is a high school exchange program facilitated by the U.S. and German congresses and is the largest European exchange program available to Anderson students. Even for language-related exchange programs such as CBYX, neither fluency nor affluence are necessary. CBYX offers students scholarships for travel, as well as German-language training upon arrival in Germany. Due to this, CBYX is extremely competitive. But for other smaller exchanges, are foreign languages necessary?
“No, as much as it hurts my heart as a foreign language teacher. It really depends on the program and what your goals are,” commented Dr. Urbaniak, the German teacher at Anderson who has traveled internationally both as a student and as a chaperone.
It is, however, not something to discount.
“Not everyone’s going to speak English,” Tucker Helbling (10), a student who has gone to Greenland, said.
“For experiencing it fully, I feel like the language would be very helpful because you use language all the time. You see signs. You talk to people. You order food,” Charles Cox (10), a German language student interested in traveling overseas, said.
Financial concerns are also important to consider, and students who haven’t traveled are concerned about them.
“Personally I would be very worried about costs adding up because you have to get there, but then you also have to afford staying there and food,” said Cox.
Despite the steep cost most students anticipate, it isn’t always the case.
“We do have some scholarship money available for those who demonstrate financial need. But beyond that, for example, the sister cities program is able to provide a little bit of scholarship money…The financial considerations for a trip are great, but there’s usually ways around it,” Urbaniak said.
Traveling abroad can benefit students in many ways, most especially their development as a person.
“Seeing the world through other people’s eyes, students or people, not just students, can also get a better appreciation for their own culture and maybe even themselves as individuals as well,” Urbaniak said.
Information about CBYX exchange can be found through the official website. Applications for the 2025-26 exchange season with CBYX are open. Other school-based foreign travel programs, when available, can be found on Schoology and through foreign language teachers.