GSHS Students Travel to Germany

American students with German host partners
American students with German host partners

Over the summer, 19 GSHS students spent 2 weeks in Germany, from June 17th – July 2nd on a trip coordinated by Laura Trimble (GSHS German teacher) and Manfred Eller (GSHS Physics teacher). The group was also accompanied by Gretchen Ripple (GSHS History teacher). The students spent their first week living in a German host family in the city of Worms, which is Mr. Eller’s hometown. Students experienced everyday life in their German host families and attended school at Rudi-Stephan Gymnasium, a secondary school for grades 5-13, which specializes in the study of foreign languages. They also took a cruise on the Rhine River and visited Heidelberg. The group then spent the second week traveling throughout southern Germany and Austria. Group excursions included a tour of the former Dachau concentration camp, a day in Munich including a visit to BMW world, a tour of a salt mine in Berchtesgaden, a trip to the highest alpine peak in Germany known as the Zugspitze, visits to two of King Ludwig II’s castles (Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee) and shopping in Salzburg, Austria.

Our host students from Worms will be visiting GSHS from September 23rd through 29th. They will attend school and go on excursions to Philadelphia and Valley Forge while they are here. We are thrilled with this newfound exchange with a German school, which provides an extraordinary opportunity for our German language students to experience the German language and culture first-hand, as well as form meaningful relationships with native Germans. We look forward to a long-term biannual exchange with Rudi-Stephan Gymnasium.

Students who took part in the exchange: Daniel Styer, Tacey Sauder, Jeremy Hershey, Patrick Montgomery, Charles Ulrich, Paula Groff, Abigail Foor, Ariana Tirado, Aaron Lapp, Andrew Bowman, Seth Babb, Trenton Smoker, Brina Martin, Brandon Sabasino, Christian Schilling, Makaela Smith, Rachel Hooley, Zachary Hannum, and Nathan Smucker.

American students visiting Herrenchiemsee Palace
American students visiting Herrenchiemsee Palace