BHS students reflect on exchange trip to Europe
By Karley Nadolski
Contributor
Earlier this month, 28 high school students, with two chaperones in tow, boarded a school bus that brought them to O’Hare International Airport. With their passports and their carefully weighed luggage, these students were on the first part of their nearly 20-hour journey to Roskilde, Denmark.
Their final destination, Roskilde Cathedral School, is the sister-school that participates in a yearly exchange program with Burlington High School.
Since the fall of 2015, third-year students (the equivalent of U.S. high school seniors) have been participating in an annual exchange lovingly dubbed “The Danish Invasion.”
The program was the brainchild of Nancy Satola, foreign student advisor for BHS, and four students – Daniela Beltran, Mariana Beltran, Genevieve George, and Kate McGinley.
As the program developed, social studies teacher, Josh Dow joined the planning team along with several more students: Catie Arena, Karley Nadolski, Elisabeth Schopp, and Emily Ustianowski. The planning committee was tasked with taking an abstract idea and making it reality.
Soon that dreaming became less abstract as plans were set in place for a six-day excursion in and around Roskilde. In November, all BHS students were invited to apply for a spot on the trip. In the end, 50 applications were submitted and 28 students were chosen.
Most of the students had been involved with the program by playing host to Danish students but some students had no previous exposure to the exchange program. Senior Connor Raboine said he only knew about the opportunity from his first-hour teacher. Others were told by their friends who were anxious about applying.
After the selection process ended, 28 students buzzing with excitement for their coming intercultural experience. After their week in Denmark, it was these 28 students who came home full of stories.
The week was full of activity that whisked students from the streets of Copenhagen, where they rode on a guided boat tour through the canals and harbors of downtown, to the classrooms of Roskilde, where they sat in on different classes, and to the households of their host families, where American students built lasting friendships with their Danish hosts.
These relationships were nicknamed “friendships beyond borders.”
“My favorite part of the trip was getting to explore great cities like Roskilde and Copenhagen with my host sister,” Junior Claire Turke said.
Raboine, with a different take on the experience, said his favorite memory was eating a pizza sandwich at Copenhagen’s New Harbor while listening to a street performer “rock out on the clarinet.”
Every student had a different memory, some quirkier than others, that they would cite as their favorite.
Chaperone Josh Dow expressed that it was these differing experiences that made the program so important.
“Anytime we can give kids real life experiences, I consider that to be very valuable,” he said.
For that reason and others, Dow and Satola have an optimistic outlook on the future of this exchange program. “Ideally, we would have students from BHS travelling to Roskilde every other year,” Dow said.
The very existence of this program, can be attributed to Satola and those four students who planned the very first exchange. Founding member and youngest member of the planning committee, Mariana Beltran said, “I never thought we were actually going to go [to Denmark.] It has been satisfying and surreal to see all of our hard work pay off.”
Writer Karley Nadolski and photographer Lauren Henning are seniors at Burlington High School and were among the students who participated in the Danish exchange trip.
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