The Global Exchange program has been expanding the horizons of Malvern students for many years now. The programs allow students to travel to different places and learn about new things and cultures. Mrs. Lohse, the Director of Global Programming, describes the concept of these global exchanges.
“So the goal of the Global Exchange Program is for our students to go out into the world and get to know themselves better, get to know another part of the world better. The basics involve our students going to another Augustinian school, whether it’s in Spain, Panama, in the past, Australia, and they will stay with the host family at that school. So in this case, our students stayed with Australian families, and then the whole exchange idea is that the same student who stayed with them will then, in turn, come to Malvern at some point during the year and stay with our students’ families. So therein lies the concept of exchange. You truly exchange lives, cultures, experiences, and you learn so much as a result,” Lohse said.
Global Exchange Programs have been an important piece in seasoning our students. Specifically, this most recent exchange was to Sydney, Australia. The exchange took place with students from St. Augustine Prep in Sydney, Australia. An important aspect of these exchanges is the shared Augustinian Values between schools. This is important because no matter how far you travel around the world, these schools will have similarities in Augustinian values and school culture. In this case, St. Augustine’s was not only Augustinian but an all-boys school as well.
“They’re also an Augustinian school, St Augustine’s in Sydney, is all boys. It’s much bigger than our school. I think they have 1,600 students, but it’s also all boys, also Augustinian. So I think that our students learn that the world is smaller maybe than they think, and that there’s so much to learn from others, whether it be language or culture,” Lohse said.
The students lucky enough to go on this adventure were Laz Scheibe 27’, Max Rose 27’, and Noah Monestere 27’. These three students were also accompanied by faculty member Mr. Sammartino. Immediately, these three were able to assimilate into the culture at St. Augustine’s Prep. They found parallels between Malvern and their interim school for the next couple of weeks. Laz Scheibe details some similarities and differences between the schools.
“So one big similarity was, St Augustine was kind of everywhere. They had a statue on campus as well, right in their courtyard. A difference was their school’s little bit more compact, even though they had like double our students, which was interesting, and then the day-to-day life was different. So instead of having a community time, they had 20 minutes in between their first and second period class, and then they just had lunch, which was pretty interesting,” Scheibe said.
These students were accompanied by a Malvern teacher who was not able to thoroughly enjoy the trip, but was also there to make sure the trip ran smoothly for the students. Mr. Sammartino is very experienced in these exchange programs. He explains how he got introduced to the exchange program.
“The first time I got involved in an international trip was the project baseball trip to Brazil. for that, I got asked the night before, a colleague could not make it because of an emergency, and I had, like, an hour to decide. And so that’s how I got to go to Brazil. And then for Australia, it was, I was asked in, I guess, the winter, if I could make it work. You know, it is a lot. It’s a tough ask to go away for two weeks for some people. And so it was, you know, an ask, because Miss Lohse knows that I like to travel. I’m very good at being a solo traveler, which a lot of the Australia trip was, but I’ve also had experience taking students internationally, around and through the airport,”
All four of these friars stayed along the coast of Australia, located near beaches and mountains. Mr. Sammartino summarizes his thoughts on his exchange experience.
“I think about it every day. It was a trip of a lifetime. I’ve gotten a few trips of a lifetime in the past few years, but the experience of getting to be in Australia, a country I never thought I’d be at, was magical. It was, a lot of travel time, a lot of time in the air and but then to land and hear people to travel for that long and land in a country where the main language is English, seemed like that shouldn’t happen. It was kind of a shock to travel so far and still speak the native language. It was pretty neat,” Sammartino said.
As for the students, they each stayed with a different family, so they all had their own unique and exceptional experiences in Australia. While they did most activities together, students were also able to partake in unique experiences with their host family. Exemplifying the personal connection aspect of the exchange. For example, Max Rose ‘27 talks about one of his notable experiences on the trip.
“[My host student and I] went to the Sydney Bridge Climb on, where it was just climb all the way to the top of the tallest bridge in all of Australia, one of the biggest bridges in the world. It was kind of cool, because you can see all of the mountains in the background with the city that was probably one of the best, most notable [experiences],” Rose said.
While our Malvern students got to have great experiences in Australia over the summer, the Australian host students, in turn, were able to come to the States. The Australian students had nothing but good things to say about their time at Malvern. One of the Students, Lachlan, who attends Augustine Prep and participated in the exchange program, expresses his impression of the school.
“Each morning [everyone] just says hello and all that stuff, which is expected. And everyone here, even with the little things like holding the doors for everyone. Both schools have this sense of manners and everyone’s just really happy to be [attending] their schools, and really have a sense of pride for their schools.” Lachlan said.
In the States, the Malvern families went on my excursions with their Australian friends, whether it was sports games or food destinations.
“We went to Philadelphia. Had a great experience. There were a variety of guided tours through the city. Mr. Sammartino helped with a lot of that planning. And then the following Tuesday, we took the group to New York City, and again, a lot of walking tours. We were very fortunate in that the weather was great both days. So we were able, to show our Australian students, kind of the best of the sites that were reachable on foot. We went to Times Square and went to the top of the Empire State Building. So they got to see some iconic sites. [Later] at Rockefeller Center, we had lunch. So those two excursion days worked. [Also], I know the families also took the students to a variety of opportunity they had a variety of opportunities, especially with sports. I know they went to at least one Phillies game and an Eagles game too,” Lohse said.
While Australia was the most recent Global Exchange this school year, these programs are by no means new here at Malvern.
“One of our other exchanges that’s been going on for a long time, at least 15 years, is our exchange in Spain with a school called Real Colegio, Real Alfonso Dos, and I can give you the details about that, but they are right outside of Madrid. They’re northwest of Madrid, in a place called an area called San Lorenzo de El Escorial, and we certainly encourage students who are studying Spanish to travel there, because they’re going to be immersed in Spanish. So that’s very much a linguistic exchange in addition to being a cultural one.” Lohse said.
Exchange programs allow for a connection between Augustinian schools, cultural exposure to our students, and overall enjoyable experiences all around. Mrs. Lohse describes the overall takeaway from these programs and why they help
“I think that it’s always beneficial to welcome guests. I think Malvern is very hospitable. We’re very that that that’s like an Augustinian virtue of hospitality. We really open our doors to people, whether they’re visiting locally or from a distance. But I think in particular, when we have visitors from other countries, whether it be Spain, Australia, or Panama in the past. It just makes life so much more interesting,” Lohse said.
