Germans move in with peers in East Brunswick

BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

FARRAH MAFFAI staff Wiebke Anton (center), 18, is greeted by Lisa Nota, 16, Fred Calderone and Lucy Nota at East Brunswick High School Tuesday evening. EAST BRUNSWICK — They say they have no grudge against East Brunswick for knocking the German women’s soccer team out of the Olympics in August.

Some 16 German exchange students arrived Tuesday for an extended stay in East Brunswick, hometown of Heather O’Reilly, who of course scored the goal that sent the German team packing in Athens. As the German students will see, the township has even informally renamed Civic Center Drive as Heather O’Reilly Drive.

The students are here as part of a three-week foreign-exchange program that, at the end of June, has them returning the favor by hosting the East Brunswick students now putting them up in their homes, according to Sara Wilder, a German teacher at Churchill Junior High School and East Brunswick High School.

The students, from Halle in the eastern section of Germany, arrived Tuesday and were greeted with a potluck dinner at the high school, finally meeting their American hosts. Through Oct. 23, the German students will be accompanying the East Brunswick teens to classes.

During that time, the German students will present reports on German culture and history to interested high school classes, and high school teachers may also teach personalized lessons to the German group, according to the school district.

“I think it’s great. It’s very exciting and it’s very good for us as a life experience,” said Lisa Nota, one of the East Brunswick students participating. Nota, a junior, is playing host to Wiebke Anton.

She said the students will probably visit Six Flags Great Adventure one day and take a few other day trips.

Nota, who said she speaks German “sort of,” was expecting to watch the vice-presidential debate on television with Anton their first night together. Of course, with American news being omnipresent, Wiebke said she could have watched the same thing had she still been in Germany.

Fortunately, Wiebke speaks English fluently, Lisa said.

Wilder said the program was initiated by East Brunswick, which contacted an institute in New York that set up the district with the German-American Partnership Program. That, in turn, got them in touch with a school in Germany. The German and U.S. governments also played a role in organizing the exchange.

Silke Franco, who also teaches German in East Brunswick, said she and Wilder are the township teachers in charge of the visit, while the German students were brought over by two of their own teachers.

She said the students actually got to know each other through e-mails over the summer.

“We think this is a unique opportunity to get to know the daily life in a foreign country,” Franco said. “You get to know the country from a different perspective than TV or tourism.”

District officials said the students are also taking trips to a Broadway show, Philadelphia, Princeton University, a Halloween costume party and the beach. They will also take part in local community events such as upcoming heritage festivals.

When the school year ends, the East Brunswick students will visit Germany and live with their current guests for three weeks. The students will attend school there and give reports on American culture and history. The students will receive credit on their transcripts for taking part in the program.

Among the places they will visit are Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden.

“It’s a really personal experience that lasts a lifetime,” Franco said.