Wheeling her luggage through the airport, Gwenyth Fox, junior, excitedly awaits meeting her German exchange partner for the first time. The airport lobby is alive with chatter as German students search the exhausted travelers’ faces for the person they’ve been communicating with for months. In the crowd, Fox spots the familiar face of her partner, Maja Lichtfeld, and rushes to give her a hug. Taking Fox’s luggage, she leads her to the train station and out into the open air of Hamburg, Germany.
The German American Partnership Program (GAPP) has been pairing students from KHS with Friedrich-Ebert-Gymnasium students since 1991. The program ran strong for almost 30 years, but just two months before the 2020 exchange, COVID-19 shut it down. After multiple virtual GAPP exchanges over Zoom, Jacob Singleton, German teacher and leader of the KHS German exchange program, was ready to get it started up again.
“GAPP offers students an unparalleled life experience,” Singleton said. “It changes perspectives and opens new horizons and opportunities.”
Fox has traveled to Europe before, but she said GAPP was a totally different experience. She said she had never been in a foreign country without her parents, so she was nervous to meet her host partner.
“I didn’t know if we were going to have a connection, [but] it turned out great,” Fox said. “Our personalities matched well [and] she’s really funny.”
Lichtfeld said GAPP was very competitive at her school. On the American side, fewer than 20 students applied. For the Germans, it was 60.
“GAPP is really popular because everyone wants to see America,” Lichtfeld said. “In the end, there were only 18 students taken.”
Lichtfeld and Fox were thrilled to be among those students accepted into the program. Through seeing stage plays, going to the beach and exploring the city, Lichtfeld introduced Fox to authentic life as a German citizen.
“Everything we did during my stay I found enjoyable,” Fox said. “The people seemed nicer, the air felt cleaner, the city was more beautiful, and of course, we had the best group of Germans to travel with.”
Fox said GAPP provided a learning experience as well as entertainment. Fox said the program helped her improve her speaking as neither of her exchange parents spoke English. In Lichtfeld’s home, she was fully immersed in the German language.
“I had to really pay attention to what they were saying to answer their questions,” Fox said. “It definitely improved my understanding.”
As part of the GAPP program, American students travel to Germany during the summer, while Germans students come to America the following October. As a result, they have to wait four months before seeing each other in person again. Fox said she and Lichtfeld were devastated when she left Hamburg.
“When she left, I felt very lonely at home,” Lichtfeld said. “I [felt] that I could talk with her about everything because there was no judgment.”
After staying with their host families, the GAPP students went on a week-long road trip, stopping in cities such as Munich and Salzburg. Though sightseeing may sound more enjoyable than being a guest in one’s home, Singleton said he believes both parts of GAPP are equally important.
“We like doing the trip and the homestay [because] it gives you both experiences,” Singleton said. “[The trip is] an opportunity to see some of the more outstandingly beautiful things in Germany like the Alps, [but] getting the chance to live [in Hamburg] for the majority of the trip like a German is an invaluable experience.”
The next GAPP trip will take place in 2025, and it is accessible to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors taking German III or German IV. The Germans will be here at KHS from October 14-30, and will visit the Gateway Arch, the City Museum and Chicago. While these are exciting activities, Lichtfeld is most excited to see her partner again.
“I miss Gwenyth so much and she became a great friend through the exchange,” Lichtfeld said. “I’m really looking forward to meeting [Fox’s] family, learning about American culture and how different her life is than [mine] in Germany.”
