Guadalajara and Mendota Heights Area Students Exchange Lessons in Culture, Weather

As part of the sixth annual Henry Sibley High School-Colegio México Nuevo Student Exchange, 11 students from Guadalajara, Mexico recently completed a two-week stay in Minnesota, living with 11 Henry Sibley students and their families.

Henry Sibley High School senior Spanish students introduced their visiting guests to the joys of eating at White Castle, shopping at the Mall of America, tubing at Afton Alps, ice skating and sledding.

The Sibley students are looking forward to getting a crash course in practical Spanish, Mexican culture and perhaps even sampling some of the exotic local delicacies, such as crickets.

In addition to attending classes at  Sibley, the visiting students went to basketball and hockey games, attended the regular sports practices and after-school activities of their hosts, went shopping and ate out at Minnesota stores and restaurants, spent time at Garlough Environmental Magnet School, and toured some Minnesota landmarks such as Minnehaha Falls and the Minnesota History Center.

“They shadow their 'brothers' and 'sisters' to their classes to see how it is here,” said Imelda Michel, a teacher at Colegio México Nuevo who accompanied the Mexican students to Minnesota.

In March, 15 Henry Sibley students will make the exchange trip to Mexico and stay with the same students they hosted this winter.

The Mexican students reported that the biggest challege they faced was more environmental than cultural. They enjoyed the snow, there’s none close to where they live, but not the frigid Minnesota winter.

“We played with the snow—and we fell down in the snow, " said exchange student Jair Rodriguez with a laugh.

They also enjoyed shopping at the Mall of America, buying things that typical U.S. teens would also seek out, anything from clothes and shoes to iPods and laptops.

“It’s very big and really good,” said exchange student Miguel Flowers. “In Guadalajara we don’t have a big mall like that.”

White Castle chow recieved a thumbs up,  but only mediocre marks were handed out to local Mexican eateries.

The students from Guadalajara said they weren't suprised by much, but did note a number of differences between the high school experiences of Henry Sibley Students and those in Guadalajara, including the size of the two schools and the amount of after-school activities their hosts were involved with. Their school in Mexico is about a quarter of the size of Henry Sibley and their school supports few activities such as the sports teams, drama, music and clubs that are staples of American schools.

“We have a lot of clubs they don’t have,” said Sibley student Briana Mork.

The two-way exchange allows the U.S. students to bolster their Spanish language skills and gives them a quick taste of what life is like in a different culture. The students from Guadalajara in turn get an immersion in American-English and check out the experiences of American high school students.

“The mission is to get immersed into the culture basically, language and culture,” said Michel. “You figure we have two cultures. So, just see how it works here and then they go over there and see how it works over there.”

To close the exchange visit, the Mexican students made a presentation on their experience in English to the students in the Henry Sibley Spanish classes. When the Henry Sibley students close their trip to Mexico, they will make a presentation in Spanish to the students at Colegio México Nuevo.

“I think that it will make us realize how much Spanish we really do know, cause we don’t think we know very much Spanish,” said Sibley student Jennifer Losinski.

Henry Sibley students are scheduled to travel to Guadalajara, Mexico for 10 days from March 17-27. The cost of the trip is about $925 per student, which is paid for by the Sibley students and their families. The students will be chaperoned by both Sibley teachers and local school officials and staff. 

The trip to Guadalajara is not focused on any specific tourist destinations, but instead the intent is for the Henry Sibley students to attend high school in Mexico, and participate in the social and family activities with their hosts.