Cultural Exchange Program by Macarena Fritz-Cefaratti, Upper School Spanish Teacher Park is the perfect place for a cultural exchange program, where connections, inclusivity, and language proficiency work together to make the experience enriching for everyone. Students from both countries can improve their linguistic skills organically, realizing how easily they can communicate in another language when they make an effort. We’ve been working to revive our international student exchange program to give our students opportunities to learn first-hand about Latin culture, to show that there are good people all around the world, and they deserve the opportunity to open their doors and hearts to each other. In 2020, 10 Park students were prepared to go down to a school in my hometown of Santiago, Chile when the border closed - it was the start of Covid lockdowns. Fast forward to 2024, we connected with the school Liceo del Caribe in San Andrés, Colombia, where 16 kids wanted to come here, and thankfully, Park families loved the idea of hosting them for two weeks. The process is extensive - coordination, immigration, insurance, 10,000 group texts. We met online with the parents both American and Colombian, and the Park parents said, “We’ll take care of your kid, don’t worry!” Then the Colombian parents said, “If you ever come down here, you have a friend in me. We’ll take care of you.” It was so cute. Every family made it an experience. The exchange students were so sweet - they learned how to cook American food, enjoyed American experiences together, and some of them bonded with our soccer team. They participated in full discussions in every class and gave a presentation on their culture in the whole Upper School assembly. San Andres is a small island in the Caribbean Sea - they go everywhere on a vespa, so when they were here, they enjoyed traveling further in cars and buses. They loved trips to Niagara Falls, Darien Lake, a Sabres game, a pumpkin farm, hikes - even something like Delta Sonic, where they were amazed that we have machines to wash our cars. Mx. Melin led a bus tour of downtown Buffalo where we learned about the history of Buffalo, and I learned so much about things we all see every day but know little about. We walked Elmwood, and of course the kids made a thousand trips to the mall. Through it all, we learn that kids in different countries want to do the same things; they just think in different languages. We also had an amazing tour of Roswell Park thanks to Park parent Crystal Rodriguez-Dabney, who works there and introduced us to Dr. Sandra Sexton, a Colombian woman in charge of the largest animal cancer center in the country. It happened to be her last day before retirement, and she was in tears to be with students from her home country at that moment! “I had so much fun with my exchange student - it was like having a sister. We made a lot of new friends, learned about each other’s culture, and learned how to coexist with the needs of different people.” - Charlotte Mulvey, Grade 10
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