Winchester High School Welcomes Chinese Exchange Students

students travel from one classroom to another everyday. From science to math to history, probably one of the last things they would associate with a regular school day is Harry Potter.

But when Emily Zhang first experienced the day-to-day setup of the school that was the first thing that popped into her head.

“The experience of going from one class to the other was so unusual, it was like Harry Potter,” said Zhang, an exchange student from China. “In China we stay in the same room and take the same subjects everyday. Here the students move around and can choose their own classes.”

Earlier this month, Zhang, along with 10 other Chinese students from Dalian Yuming High School in Dalian, China, spent the week at Winchester High School. The students stayed at a Winchester student’s home, got to attend class and were able to experience American culture.

It was the first year of the program, one that Principal Thomas Gwin hopes to continue. After leaving Winchester, the Chinese students travelled to Boston, New York and Washington D.C. before heading home.

“It’s great when you can expose kids to different cultures,” Gwin said. “It breaks down barriers and allows kids to see how similar we all are. To do something like this and do it at a kid level, it’s something that’s going to make a difference in the rest of their lives.”

And the exchange students, as well as the Winchester host families, echoed that sentiment.

“It was a good experience; I had a lot of fun,” said Winchester sophomore Nick McIntyre, whose family hosted a student. “At first I thought it was going to be awkward, but it wasn’t at all. It was definitely a unique experience.”

“I enjoyed staying at an American student’s home,” said Jonathan Wang. “The school’s so active. And it was definitely exciting when we had no school on Wednesday [because of the snow on Feb. 2].”

For Zhang and the other Chinese students, it wasn’t just the changing of classes that they found unusual, but the whole classroom setup was different than what they were used to in China.

“Classes in China, the teacher is at the board the whole time and students sit quietly and take notes,” Zhang said. “Here the teachers ask questions. And they teach you about everything – even sex. I wish I could stay here longer.”