Fairport High School High has been selected as a German American Partnership Program (GAPP) School of Distinction, an honor that recognizes schools for exceptional partnership in fostering a long-term youth exchange program between the U.S. and Germany. The High School is among a select group of schools nationwide to receive the award.
For the last 37 years, Fairport High School (FHS) has successfully developed and integrated GAPP in grades 9-12 with support of the school board, parents, students, and community.
The three-week exchange program with partner school Simpert-Kraemer Gymnasium (SKG) in Krumbach, Germany, is under the direction of FHS German teacher Frau Roth. This year, 26 students and two teachers from Germany will be coming to FHS in May for two weeks followed by a week of travel to Washington, D.C. and NYC before they fly back home to Germany. Roth and her 26 students will spend three weeks in Germany at the end of June 2020 when German schools are still in session.
“One of the benefits of Fairport High School’s participation in the GAPP program is that it involves a comprehensive cultural three week experience, where our students are completely immersed in participating in a German High School, and travel for a week throughout Germany and neighboring countries, all while not conflicting with any classroom time,” Roth said. “Our Fairport students also have a unique opportunity to showcase their pride in their home town and their school by hosting German students and their teachers in Fairport for two weeks.”
The GAPP Program is a highly respected international exchange program where participating teachers are specifically trained under guidelines developed by the U.S. State Department and Germany’s Foreign Cultural and Education Policy to ensure the highest possible cultural and educational benefit of our students. The program is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, which also holds responsibility for the overall concept of the exchange, as well as the US Department of State.
The success of GAPP is based on the more than 700 active long-term school partnerships, such as Fairport High School and Simpert-Kraemer Gymnasium Krumbach, between the two countries. These partnerships ensure that exchanges take place regularly, in Fairport every other year. GAPP is supported by The German Foreign Office as well as The U.S. State Department, and school partnerships can be found in all 50 US States, and in all 16 German Bundesländer (States).
Roth added, “Our Fairport German Exchange Program helps prepare many of our students for the greater responsibilities in college and workplace, and prepares them to be successful global citizens. Being able to have a friend in Germany and see what real life vs. just being a tourist is eye-opening experience for our students. Hosting a student from Germany and showing them around our school and community, in addition to going abroad, gives us a new perspective and increased appreciation of where we are from and what is unique and special about where we live as well.”
“We are extremely proud of our longstanding collaboration with the German American Partnership Program. Over the last 37 years we have welcomed hundreds of German students to experience American culture at FHS through this exchange. In turn, hundreds of our students have had the great fortune to visit Germany and experience the German culture first hand after years of dedicated study of the language,” said FHS Principal Bob Clark. “Frau Roth has been an instrumental component of this incredible partnership for the majority of this time and she’s done an incredible job maintaining the strength of this program. Congratulations on this award!”
