Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda UFSD
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- Kenmore Town of Tonawanda UFSD
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Ken-Ton Students to Study Abroad in Germany for Two Weeks
For the next two weeks, several of our Kenmore East and West students will be traveling abroad to study and tour another country. Approximately 20 Ken-Ton students currently enrolled in the German Language Program will travel alongside a few of our Ken-Ton teachers to Zulpich, Germany.
Ken-Ton has had a long-standing partnership with the Franken Gymnasium, a high school in Zulpich. Through this partnership, each school visits the other every couple of years. Ken-Ton welcomed students from the Franken Gymnasium back in October where they played host to the several students and teachers who made the trip to Buffalo. Our Ken-Ton students will now be the ones studying abroad and staying with their German friends and their families. This will be the program’s first trip to Germany since the 2017-2018 school year.
“Students are super excited to travel to Germany and to see their new German friends from this past fall exchange,” Kenmore East German Teacher Peggy Lucero said. “We had a countdown calendar and have been preparing regularly for the trip!”
Students will depart for Germany on March 24th for the 13-day trip. They’ll fly into Frankfurt, Germany and take a bus to their host city, Zulpich. They’ll also take field trips to Bonn, Aachen, Maastricht, Koeln and finish the trip with three days in Berlin. They’ll be taking in many historic sites and landmarks, such as the Roman Bath Houses, the Gestapo Museum, the National German History Museum, the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, and the Berlin Wall.
“My students are thrilled to visit these cities and experience cultural aspects that we previously only interacted with online or in a textbook,” Kenmore West German Teacher Matt Gabel said. “But they’re most excited about connecting with their partners. They have all been in contact with each other for at least the last few months and have been busy making plans to get the most out of their visit.”
“I hope my students are inspired to travel and to continue learning German as well as more open to experiencing other cultures,” Lucero added about the upcoming trip. “It is truly a life changing moment in a teenager’s life and a sense of independence and confidence because they are traveling without their parents and having an immersive cultural experience.”