A WHS Mom Returns From Second Tour of Duty on German Exchange Trip

When is the last time you gave up vacation days to take 20 high school students overseas?  For Lee Halper, of Blue Bell, it was one week ago. That’s when she boarded a plane in Dusseldorf to return home after chaperoning (WHS) students for 10 days.

Halper accompanied her daughter Paige, who will be a senior at WHS in the fall.

This was Halper’s second such trip. Halper, who works in pharmacovigilance for Merck, first volunteered in 2007 when her daughter Carolyn was selected to participate in the (GAPP). 

WHS German teacher Frau Nicole Perrine-Wilson takes applications for the three-week trip. She selected 20 students, including Paige, to live with host families and attend school with host partners for 10 days, which is a GAPP requirement. The group also visits other cities and stays in youth hostels.

Halper said she was the GAPP mom because she wanted “to give these kids a unique opportunity. They get to be part of a family and know how Germans really live,” rather than visit as tourists.

Things got off to a bit of a rough start for the rising sophomores, juniors and seniors June 17. Halper said, “We were in a school bus, in Manhattan, during a hail storm, trying to get to JFK.”

At the airport, their boarding was delayed a half hour because of the hail.

On the tarmac, Halper said, “The Air Berlin pilot spoke first in German, and I heard groans. He said our flight would be delayed two hours because of the storm." 

Only one runway was being used. 

“The kids were very good,” said Halper.

After landing in Dusseldorf, the group traveled by train to Osnabruck. 

“There were lots of hugs and excitement on the train platform,” said Halper. 

Students emailed during the school year to get to know their host partners before they arrived in Germany.

Halper said in many instances she could not tell the German from the American teens because their dress and behaviors are similar. 

“The boys were throwing a football, and girls were talking together,” she said.

Not only did the students attend school, Halper did, too.  At EMA-Gymnasiasten, she attended Herr Jan David Dreyer’s social studies classes. Dreyer teaches English and received a master’s from Temple University. He is Frau Wilson's counterpart in Germany.  

One of Dreyer’s students gave a presentation in English on World War II to an audience that had to include a dozen English speakers. 

“He did a really good job,” said Halper.

Afterward, the presenter asked students if they had relatives in World War II or that lived in Osnabruck at the time. German and American students shared family stories, which Halper said brought a unique perspective to the presentation.  

Halper watched Naomi, Carolyn's GAPP exchange partner they hosted when the Germans visited WHS, be recognized as the top student in her class. Halper also saw at least six students from Carolyn's exchange graduate during this trip with Paige.

Halper lived with a couple that teaches at the school. Philipp Alten teaches geography, and Cathrin teaches English. Halper adored their 18-month-old son, Clemens. She said they played cards, laughed, and watched German women beat Canadian women in soccer.

“It was very exciting,” she said.

She said she tried out her German on the family, and “they laughed.”

Halper said, the 40 German and American GAPP students traveled to Bremen by train.

“It’s a city with beautiful architecture that survived the war,” she said. “We visited an interactive science museum. It was fun.”

“Our hostel was very nice, and an easy walk to the center of town. It was across from Beck’s beer factory,” said Halper. 

The hostel was “very clean and had two or three sets of bunks with a shower and bath in each room,” she said.

On the side trip, GAPP students visited the North Sea port city of Bremerhaven. They went to an emigration museum. 

“It was interesting to see where my ancestors may have left from [for America],” said Halper. 

She said students were each given a card with a person on it, which told his story of emigrating to the USA, South America or Australia. 

In Bremen, “I saw the kids [German and American] with their heads on each other’s shoulders, and they were all together,” said Halper. 

Frau Wilson and Herr Dreyer “did a good job matching kids up,” she said.

Halper hung back from the kids to let them get to know one another, and would enter their circles when called upon. 

“They’re good kids. I like to be around them. I trusted them to make [the]  right decisions, and they did.” 

The best part of the trip for Halper was “hearing someone say they would miss me,” she said, laughing.

Wissahickon Middle School German teacher Teresa Winslow flew to Dusseldorf to fill the gap for GAPP when Halper returned home. 

The students return to WHS Saturday, July 9. Hopefully, there will be no hail to welcome them home, or when the Germans arrive to attend WHS in October.