By By SPIROS GALLOS / Niles Daily Star
NILES - For two weeks, 10 Dutch students will be experiencing American culture firsthand as they take part in a student exchange program at Brandywine Middle-High School.
The students, who attend Gymnasium Camphusianum, the Dutch equivalent of high school, in Gorinchem, will live with host families during their stay and experience the differences between Dutch and American cultures.
Some differences are already apparent to the visiting students.
Kooiman also noted the American sports culture is very different from his home country.
During their stay, the students will travel to Chicago to see sites like Navy Pier and the John G. Shedd Aquarium, as well as visit the Niles Haunted House Scream Park. Tonight the students will get to see their first high school football game.
Each year, a number of Dutch students visit Brandywine in the fall and in the spring, the Brandywine students from their host families travel to the Netherlands to experience Dutch culture.
The program is currently in its third year.
Dave Roeder, a high school social studies teacher at Brandywine, organized the exchange program with George van der Vliet, a social studies teacher from Gymnasium Camphusianum who travels with the Dutch students.
The program began when van der Vliet came to Brandywine as part of a teacher exchange program in October of 2001. He and Roeder developed a close friendship, and when Roeder was going to travel to the Netherlands, he brought some students with him.
After returning from his trip, Roeder organized the exchange program to allow students from both countries to visit the other every year.
Roeder stressed the importance of the program is the opportunity for students to travel and experience a foreign culture for themselves.
Van der Vliet echoed Roeder's sentiments about the exchange program, citing the Netherlands' position in the global economy.
The Netherlands plays a vital role in the European economy. The port of Rotterdam, the largest port in the world, serves as the gateway to Europe and is crucial in the importing and exporting of goods, van der Vliet said.
While in the Netherlands, the Brandywine students, accompanied by Roeder and his wife Angie, who is a counselor at the high school, will visit museums, such as the Louvre in Paris, the United States embassy in Hague, the Netherlands' capitol, and monuments like the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Van der Vliet also said it is important for the Dutch students to experience American culture to see how it's different from how it's portrayed in movies the students see in the Netherlands.
Together, Dave and Angie coordinate the program at Brandywine, serving as educational advisors, fund-raising coordinators, chaperones and supervisors to the students. While hosting the exchange students, some Brandywine students are getting a glimpse of what their trip to the Netherlands will be like. "It's been a really awesome experience so far," Brandywine senior Nicole Dembinski, who hosts one of the Dutch students now, said. "There are a lot of differences between our cultures like they ride their bikes to school, where here, we drive our cars. They also don't have a lot of fast food restaurants over there."
When asked what his favorite part about the trip so far, Kooiman said it was going to T.G.I. Friday's to celebrate Marleen Duizer's 16th birthday.
Duizer is one of the Dutch exchange students who celebrated her birthday last weekend. "The food was so good and Marleen had balloons in her hair," Kooiman said.
Barbara Van Straaten, 16, was surprised by how long classes at Brandywine ran. "Back home, classes are 50 minutes, here they are an hour and a half," Van Straaten said.
She also noted that students at her school bring their own lunch, whereas at Brandywine, they can buy a lunch in the cafeteria.
Van Straaten feels that the program is a good experience and said she has enjoyed it very much.