By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Not all Spring breaks are spent on the beach.
A group of eight Brandywine High School juniors recently returned from England as part of a student exchange program.
Two Brandywine teachers, Linda Snorek and Judith Harrison, led students Amanda Deal, Britney Shreve, Leslee Shipley, Tom Rudolph, Cara Shelton, Josh Schlutt, Jason Kusmierz and Tracy Keck.
The 10-day trip was highlighted by explorations of some of England's oldest structures. The group stayed in the city of Brighouse and visited sites in the surrounding county of Yorkshire, which rests in the middle of the country around 300 miles north of London.
Along the way were excursions to 900-year-old Skipton Castle and 30,000-acre Bolton Abbey Estate in the Yorkshire Dales, as well as a visit to ancient Roman walls in the city of York.
The Brandywine group was also treated to a rugby match featuring the Bradford Bulls, a team located in the county of West Yorkshire.
Harrison said she was able to arrange the student exchange with Brighouse High School because the England native taught at the school until 1991.
Harrison, her husband Chris and their daughter Emily came to Michigan from Brighouse nearly 14 years ago.
Harrison said she stayed with her parents during the trip, who still live in the city about two miles away from the school. The students were also witness to true English life as they lived with host families.
Harrison said some of the families were a little skeptical for a few months before she and the others arrived.
But, after students from both countries communicated before the trip, Harrison said both groups were able to forget the media-driven generalizations attached to each culture.
Part of the trip required attending classes with the Brighouse High School students, which the Brandywine group said resembled American college classes.
Traveling to and from the school was a bit different than in the States as well, Keck said.
Many of the England students did not have their own cars or driver's licenses, which Kusmierz said reminded him of how much freedom he had to roam back in Michigan.
A small group of the Brandywine students were also educated in overseas travel during an afternoon at a skating rink in Brighouse. Harrison said the English residents became interested when they noticed the American accents and then swarmed the students when they pulled out dollar bills to show some of the crowd.
Before too long, Harrison said the Brandywine students were surrounded with attention and the situation became very uncomfortable.
Besides small differences in food, such as a pizza without the sauce and a ton of curry and Yorkshire pudding, the Brandywine students said their teenage friends overseas were quite similar to those in Michigan.
The same students from Brighouse High School whose families hosted the Americans will complete the exchange in October when they arrive in Niles to attend Brandywine Middle/High School.
Another surprise will be the difference in high school sports between the two countries. Harrison said the intense support of high school athletics in America is generally not found in England. Instead, young British athletes can be signed to a professional club team starting at around 14. Harrison said the clubs, such as a rugby or soccer team, often send the athletes to school in the morning and then to practice in the afternoon.
She added it's not unusual to see a 17-, 18- or 19-year-old English professional athlete.
Also on the agenda in the fall for the visitors is a trip to Chicago. Plus, Schlutt said he plans to expose his English friends to Mountain Dew and the art of cruising around town.