The Chicago Architecture Tour, the 360 Chicago Observation Deck and the Chicago Art Institute are quintessential experiences on a visitor’s trip to Chicago. The 11 German exchange students who arrived on Sept. 15 from Wildermuth Gymnasium in Tübingen, Germany, are no exception.

The German students will stay until Oct. 1. During their visit, they will shadow U-High classes, tour Chicago colleges and visit Springfield, among other activities. 

The trip marks the end of the 2025-26 exchange, as 11 U-High students visited Germany from June 14  to July 1. U-High students had the opportunity to explore unique aspects of Germany through crafting their own chocolate bars, staying at a youth hostel for a weekend getaway and going on punting river tours. 

As the German language program comes to a close, the uncertainty of future exchange programs remains unclear. The exchange began after World War II, and U-High was one of the first schools to begin an exchange with a German school. This exchange marks the last planned exchange. According to middle school German teacher Annette Steinbarth, who organized the exchange, the school has allocated money for one more German exchange, but whether it happens depends on how long she will be able to stay at the Laboratory Schools. 

Ms. Steinbarth sees many benefits to participating in an exchange program. One of these, as she highlights, is the opportunity to make a lifelong friend.
“My son went with me in 2005-06 for the first exchange that I did. He’s now 35 and his exchange partner came for Thanksgiving last fall with her husband and her 1 ½ year old baby,” Fr. Steinbarth said. “I have many, many students like that.” 

Not only do exchanges build bonds, they also forge connections between diverse communities and cultures around the world. Notably, exchanges help to dispel misinformation and stereotypes that students and families believe about the other country. 

“Our exchanges at our school really build bridges between our country and the partner schools’ country,” Ms. Steinbarth said. “Any time our community has the opportunity to interact with people from another country and another culture, that really enriches our community, and it enriches the student experience.”

From an educational perspective, the German exchange offers an opportunity to master the language. 

“No matter how wonderful a language teacher you are, you cannot replicate an immersion experience in your classroom,” Ms. Steinbarth said. “There is just nothing like being completely immersed in a language and in a culture. Everything you experience the entire day is in the language.”

Allie Parham, a sophomore who participated in the exchange, experienced firsthand the development of her German word bank. 

“I picked up a lot of new German phrases that I wouldn’t have known,” Allie said. 

Beyond the gains she made, Allie noticed differences between the cultures of German and American families. 

“The parents tend to do everything around the house, and there were no chore divisions,” she said. 

Annabelle Shütz, the German exchange partner of ninth grader Lily Vogel, also found things about U-High different from her experience growing up in Germany. 

“You have sports where boys and girls are together. We don’t have that. We have a girl gym class and we have a boy gym class,” Annabelle said.

While the future of German exchanges remains unclear, the absence of this opportunity to connect with German culture affects the whole school.

“A whole culture is being eliminated from our school,” Ms. Steinbarth said. “Anytime there is a loss of a culture from a community, it’s a loss for everyone.”