WEST NEWBURY — Superintendent Justin Bartholomew reports that Pentucket Regional High School students will participate in the German American Partnership Program (GAPP).
The German American Partnership Program (GAPP), supported by the United States State Department, allows students from the U.S. and Germany to visit a secondary school in the other country. More than 400,000 American and German students have participated in the program since its establishment nearly 50 years ago.
Pentucket’s last GAPP exchange took place in 2014. For the past two years, German Teacher Stephen Petersen and Pentucket German IV students participated in a virtual exchange program, the German American Virtual Exchange (GAVE), with students from Stadtgymnasium Emsland in Rheine, Germany.
Pentucket students will finally meet their virtual exchange partners in person this year, as they engage in the GAPP. Students from Germany will visit Pentucket from Oct. 2-15, where they will live with host families to experience American family life firsthand.
Throughout their visit, students will also have the opportunity to get a feel for the Massachusetts educational system through shadowing a Pentucket student who is learning German at the high school, and visiting a district elementary school, Whittier Tech, and Boston University. Students will also get to take a trip to Boston, Newburyport, a local farm, and the beaches on Plum Island.
“In the past, life-long connections have been made between Pentucket and German students through this program,” said Pentucket Regional Middle High School Foreign Language Department Chair Linda Hackett. “We are excited to be bringing back the GAPP to Pentucket and are confident that our students will benefit from the connections made with the students from Germany.”
The Pentucket School Committee approved the program for the 2023-24 school year last spring.
Plans are being made to take Pentucket students to Rheine in June 2024.
