PHILIPSBURG:--- On Sunday, Oct 15, the airport hall was laden with happy anticipation as a group of VWO 5 students and two teachers were waving goodbye to parents and Milton Peters College representatives: a long-awaited visit to Ahaus, in Germany was about to start.
A year ago, in October 2022, a group of German students from the Anne Frank Realschule visited Milton Peters College. This visit focused on language learning: Dutch, English French, and SXM culture.
The return visit of MPC students to Germany became possible when MPC managed to get a grant from Erasmus Plus for the bulk of the costs. Local companies and individuals chipped in enthusiastically and with donations from Claudius Buncamper, Grandtner, West Shipping, Liccom, Grisha Heyliger, Nagico, Speetjens, Illidge, Henderson Insurance, CGC, and some student fundraising, the group managed to raise sufficient finances to be able to make the trip.
Today Monday the 16th they will arrive in Amsterdam and will visit various faculties of the University of Amsterdam to get more insight about the studies they are interested in doing after graduation. On Tuesday they will go to Münster by train and will be welcomed by the students of Anne Frank Realschule. They will do a scavenger hunt in the city and then retreat to their host families for 3 days. In the mornings they will join the Anne Frank students at school with lessons on sustainability and language learning and in the afternoon, they will visit a waste management facility and learn about how waste management is taken care of in Germany. On Friday afternoon they will travel back to the Netherlands, where a visit to museum Corpus (a travel through the human body) and a meet up with students from Sint Maarten, who will inform them about their experiences of living and studying in the Netherlands, will take place. On Sunday October 22nd they will reunite with their families on St. Maarten with probably lots of stories to tell.
An exchange visit with another country is a life-changing event for students. To be able to look over your borders changes your view of the world forever. Building long-term friendships across oceans makes the world smaller and will nurture intercultural skills, which is a must in an ever-globalizing world. SVOBE schools have therefore developed an active internationalization approach and are in the process of attaining Erasmus Accreditation, which will make student exchanges possible for many more student groups.
