Fairview-Donaueschingen Exchange Program

Former Fairview students are eligible to travel to Donaueschingen, Germany for three weeks the summer after eighth or ninth grade. Students will spend the school year(s) before they travel raising money and preparing for the three week trip. While in Germany, students will stay with a family, participate in school activities and travel around the region, seeing all of the beautiful sights! We do not need parents to volunteer to go with the group.

Interested students and their parents/guardians will meet with Herr Rooksberry in September to talk about fundraising and eligibility. Students with good grades and behavior will be considered for travel. There is an extensive application process. Simply applying does not guarantee that your child will travel. There are many opportunities to raise money, both as a group and on your own.

There are many students who have traveled in past years who are willing to talk with any of the students about the trip. If you are interested in talking with these students, please let Herr Rooksberry know. There are families who have hosted students who are also happy to share!

General Info

Since 1981, students and chaperones from Donaueschingen have come to Cincinnati for two weeks in the spring to stay with Fairview families. In the summer, students from Cincinnati travel to Donaueschingen and stay with a family there for three weeks, most students stay with the partner they hosted in the spring. The program is an unbelievable way for your child to truly experience living life with another language, family and culture.

Fundraising

Total cost for the travel program now ranges from $2000-$2500 depending on airfare. Luckily, our students have plenty of opportunities for fundraising. Terry Brennan, our GEBAS Representative, facilitates all fundraising. We believe that it helps the student appreciate the trip even more when they participate in the fundraising activities. Fundraising questions or concerns should be directed to Terry.

Eligibility

Eligibility is another issue for this program. The program coordinator and traveling chaperones will determine who will be allowed to go on the trip. Academic or behavioral concerns could result in ineligibility for the trip. Maturity also is a factor. Some students may be excellent both academically and behaviorally in the classroom, but still not mature enough to meet the social demands of the trip. Students are required to submit a printout of their semester grades from 8th grade as well as their 1st quarter grades from 9th grade. Students are also required to contact three of their 8th grade teachers and three of their 9th grade teachers to fill out a behavioral evaluation. Academics and behavioral evaluations will be used to determine which students will be eligible for the trip. If the child is failing any classes, they will be ineligible for the travel program. Any students who have been assigned to either ISS (In-School Suspension) or A2S (Out of School Suspension) will not be eligible to apply. Parents play a big role in helping us to determine whether a child is ready to travel or not. Please discuss any concerns that you may have with Herr Rooksberry or the traveling chaperone.

Hosting

Half of the exchange is our students traveling to Donaueschingen and the other half is the German students coming here. If your child wants to travel to Germany, we ask that you be a host family for a German student. Hosting is a wonderful experience. It allows your child to become friends with many of the German students and gives your family the opportunity to share your home, language and culture with the German students. If you know someone who wants to host, but their child is not traveling, please let us know!

Here is a list of what a family can expect during the hosting experience:

The host families will be required to pick up the students at the airport when the students arrive and will be required to take them to the airport when they leave.

Each school day, the students need to meet at Fairview and they will need to be picked up as well. They may ride the Metro bus, but they may not ride the yellow bus. Carpools are always available to help with rides.
Families will be paid $18 a day to help with the cost of food and other items. The students will bring spending money with them.
There will be meetings prior to the arrival of the students to prepare families and set up carpools.

Families do not need to know how to speak German. The students are here to speak English and they speak really well!

Orientation for Travelers

Before the students travel to Germany, there will be 6-8 hours of weekly, mandatory orientation meetings. This time is used to review German, go over expectations and schedules while in Germany and to allow the students to get to know each other better. Even though we will be reviewing German at that time, all students who want to travel should be reviewing German now on their own.