The room was unusually full of young faces at the Pleasant Valley School District board meeting last week, as German exchange students and their American partners waited their turn to describe their mutual experience in glowing colors.

This is the fourth time Pleasant Valley High School has welcomed German students from the IGS Enkenbach-Alsenborn school in Germany as part of the German American Partnership Program.

As of last Thursday, the 12 German students participating this year had already been at PVHS one week out of the two-week program.

The five German students who shared spoke in accented but fluent English.

They mentioned field trips to Philadelphia and the Niagara Falls, but most importantly described making new friends and connecting across cultural barriers.

Emily Scherer, 17, said, “(My favorite part was) getting to know her and her family and the American culture and like high school, everything in high school life.”

“I love everything in this school,” said Bastian Frenzer, 15.

“It’s very nice to get so many new friends.”

Julia Jedlitschka, 16, also loved the people she met at PVHS.

“I am totally happy to be here and it’s just an honor for me,” she told the board.

PVHS student John Berry hosted German student Niklas Sheets.

He said it is his second year participating in the program.

“My favorite part is definitely the personal connection you can make with someone,” Berry said.

Since he joined the program late, Berry only had three days to talk with Sheets before he arrived in the U.S.

“It’s really been kinda on the spot and we just click like that, even through all the differences we have with our nationality,” Berry said.

Host parent Michael Ditty described the program as a learning experience for the host families as well as the German students.

“We’ve had the opportunity to learn and take time to get to know each other. And one of my beliefs in life is that by understanding each other’s differences is where we find commonality,” Ditty said.

“If I could make one suggestion to the program, it would be to actually increase the length of time that they’re here — we are enjoying it that much.”

GAPP is a high school exchange program between United States and German schools run by the Goethe Institute and sponsored by the German Foreign Office and the U.S. Department of State.

The program is reciprocal, so the 12 American students who partnered with the German students this fall will travel to Germany next summer, according to PVHS GAPP coordinator Miranda Ford.

At the meeting, Ford said she hopes to continue this program in future years.

Exchanges happen every two years.

Applications will open for the next exchange during the 2020-2021 school year.

Anyone who is interested can contact Ford at PVHS.