This May at DePaul Prep, we had our first ever exchange students from another country. The students came from a small Catholic school in the South of France called St. Stanislaus. A total of 22 exchange students were hosted here in Chicago for a week-long period. 

The program started here at DePaul Prep through new French teacher Heather Meindl. When she was in high school, she hosted an exchange student and was even one herself — inspiring her decision to build an exchange experience at DePaul Prep.

“We’re still good friends to this day and she even came to my wedding,” said Meindl. 

It took about six months after everything was established until the French students actually visited. The process of planning everything out was long and difficult at times. 

“There was the challenge of time changes and having to do everything over Zoom or email. We also had to work through principals and directors. There were challenges with coordination and of course the language barrier between the administration,” explained Meindl.

Meindl had already been wanting to introduce an exchange program to DePaul Prep, so when a teacher from St. Stanislaus reached out to her, she was more than ecstatic. 

One important thing is that it was not at all difficult to find host families, as many DePaul Prep families were happy to help. Most of the French exchange students spoke very proper English, so that made it easy to communicate with their host families. One host, Eleanor Brown, was able to easily communicate with her exchange student in English. 

“She was very good at English which was great, since I am still new to learning French,” explained Brown. 

Another host, Margot McFarlane, had a new experience with her exchange student. 

“My mom speaks French but wanted to brush up on the language so she requested an exchange student who spoke more French. It was really interesting to hear full French speaking interactions,” said McFarlane. 

In the week-long period that the exchange students visited DePaul Prep, they traveled around Chicago and even spent a day in school with their hosts. They were very helpful in French classes, introducing themselves to students in the class and helping with learning the curriculum. 

On Monday, May 1st, the visiting students went on an architectural boat tour on the Chicago River and visited Millennium Park and the Deer Grove Forest Preserve Park.

Tuesday was when they spent the day shadowing their host students. During 4th period, they hosted some cultural workshops for DePaul Prep students taking the French course. On that Wednesday, the students went to the DuSable Museum of African American History and the Chicago History Museum.

On Thursday, they went on a field trip that their hosts were also welcome to join. They went to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning at the Old Post Office Building, they ate lunch at the Urban Space Food Hall, and they biked on the lakefront and visited Navy Pier.

Also on Thursday night, one host family planned a birthday dinner for their exchange student. 

“We all had a fun time and it was nice to get to know each other in a more fun, natural setting,” said Brown. 

The following and final day of the visit, the exchange students enjoyed a Cubs game like true Chicagoans.

Then it was time to say “Bon Voyage!”