Study Abroad: Exchange - Brooks School: Coeducational Private School in North Andover, MA

Adventures in Africa, Europe and South America await!

Our culture of exploration isn't just classroom study.

Each year, about 12 Brooks School students embark on month-long postings around the world, while Brooks’ campus community welcomes 12 exchange students from global partner schools.

Exchange made a huge impact on me, in terms of independence. I put myself out there and … going to Peru opened up my mind.” Kevin Kahu ’27

40 Years of Opportunities

Brooks School’s Exchange program, founded in 1986, promotes the worldwide education of students from Brooks and its partner schools in Gaborone, Botswana; Szeged, Hungary; Lima, Peru and Perth, Scotland.

Botswana

At a boarding/day school with 600 students in Gaborone, Brooks exchangees live, learn, engage in community service projects in the community and enjoy fun field trips, too.

Four young women smile for a selfie in a safari vehicle with a giraffe visible in the sunlit, bushy background.

Hungary

Host families open their homes to Brooks students attending a public high school in southeastern Hungary, where they study the Hungarian language, as well as classes in English.

Peru

During Brooks' summer break, Brooksians jet to Peru's capital to take classes in English and Spanish at a day school while living with a host families who offer weekend explorations.

A young man in sunglasses and a grey hoodie crouches in the foreground with the ancient Incan ruins of Machu Picchu and lush green mountains shrouded in mist in the background.

Scotland

On a 300-acre campus in the Scottish Highlands, Brooks students board and participate in all the academic, athletic and afternoon activities this 180-year-old school offers.

A young man in a green hoodie poses with his hand on a bronze dog statue in the foreground, with the historic Greyfriars Bobby pub and stone buildings forming the background.

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Where do Students go?

Botswana

Maru-a-Pula School in Botswana

Maru-a-Pula is a co-educational boarding and day school located in the capital, Gaborone. It was founded in 1972 to "serve as a model of non-racial education in Southern Africa." Today, the school enrolls a cosmopolitan population of more than 600 students: 63 percent (398) are Botswanan, more than a third of whom receive financial aid; the remaining 37 percent (237) are expatriates from 37 different countries. The school prides itself upon its student-centered, holistic education program that, for example, sees community service not as an extracurricular program, but as integral to each student’s education. It offers a demanding program that prepares many of its graduates for British A-level exams and prepares some to attend university in the United States.

Participants: 2 students
Dates of Travel: End of February/Early March, for five weeks
Website: www.maruapula.org

Experiences in Botswana

student stories

A grassy field stretches towards a building with a peaked roof, silhouetted against a vibrant sunset sky.

Hungary

Deak Ferenc in Hungary

Deák Ferenc is a bilingual public high school in Szeged, a city in the southeast of Hungary famous for its universities and rich cultural life. The Hungarian exchange differs in several respects from other programs. Brooks students find themselves in a country in which few, aside from some teachers and students at the school, speak English. Since Deák Ferenc is a day school, Brooks students live with host families. Because of language differences, Deák Ferenc created special courses for the exchange students in Hungarian language. Students from Brooks study mathematics, sciences and Hungarian history, classes also taught in English, with their Hungarian peers.

Projected Participants: 4 students
Dates of Travel: End of February/Early March, for five weeks
Website: http://www.dfg-szeged.hu

Experiences in Hungary

student stories

Three women stand in the foreground against a stone archway, with a cityscape visible in the background.

Peru

Colegio Trener in Peru

Located in Lima, Peru, Colegio Trener is a bilingual, co-educational day school that serves 880 students in pre-kindergarten through 11th grade. Founded in 1997, the school offers its students an intensive English program and modern curriculum to prepare them to "face the academic demands of the current world as well as to encourage their personal development and autonomous thinking." Trener provides state-of-the art facilities for its academic, athletic and arts programs.

Brooks students travel to Peru during our summer break; Brooks hosts students from Trener during their summer break, in late January and February.

Students live with host families and have the opportunity to participate in a class trip to historical sites in Peru. They take classes in both English and Spanish, offering them the opportunity to apply their Spanish language skills or learn a new language. Some Spanish knowledge is helpful for this experience but not required.

Participants: 2 students
Dates of Travel: June/July, for five weeks
Website: http://www.trener.edu.pe

Experiences in Peru

student story

A crowd of people gathers in a sunny plaza in front of a large, ornate cathedral.

Scotland

Glenalmond College in Scotland

Brooks began its exchange program at Glenalmond College in Perth in 2000. One of Scotland’s leading co-educational boarding and day schools, Glenalmond opened as a boys’ school in 1847 – 80 years before Brooks. Located in the Scottish Highlands on a 300-acre campus, Glenalmond enrolls about 400 students. In 1990, it admitted girls for the first time; today the boy-to-girl ratio is about 2:1. Complementing Glenalmond’s strong academic program is a range of extra-curricular and sporting activities.

Participants: 2 students
Dates of Travel: End of February/Early March, for five weeks
Website: www.glenalmondcollege.co.uk

Experiences in Scotland

student stories

Two young men stand on a cobblestone street in front of colorful buildings and historic architecture.

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What do Students Actually do?

Academics

At our partner schools, students attend classes daily. They join class activities, complete assignments and engage with their classmates — very similar to what they would be doing here at Brooks. Students are assigned courses that reflect the culture and school they are attending.

Service

Since its inception in 1986, community service has been a compelling and powerful part of the exchange experience. In Botswana, Maru-a-Pula School has a well-developed community service program in which Brooks students participate. Brooks students have volunteered in local health facilities, women’s shelters, and AIDS orphanages.

Activities

Beyond the classroom, students participate in a variety of activities, including sports, music, art and community service. Students are also encouraged to pursue individual interests that engage them in broader communities.

To extend the parameters of the classroom, our partner schools organize excursions, both close to and far afield from school. Such trips provide Brooks students with unforgettable experiences within their host countries.

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For up to five weeks during the school year, Brooks students live abroad as residents in other school communities and are challenged to not just extend themselves to another place, another culture, another people but to be affected by them, to be changed by them.

Creating Engaged, Global Citizens

We’re confident that experiencing this transformative process of enculturation makes our students more empathetic and involved in the world.

How does Exchange work?

When do students go on Exchange?

Who is eligible to apply to the Exchange program?

How are students selected?

Where do students live while on Exchange?

In Botswana and Scotland, Brooks students attend boarding schools and live in dormitories on campus. Dorm life and conditions vary from institution to institution. In Hungary and Peru, Brooks students attend day schools. They live with the families of partner-school students who come on exchange to Brooks.

The homestay is the heart of the program in Peru, giving students the opportunity to experience the daily rhythms of life and family relations as few visitors are able to do. Through their host families, students learn about Peruvian culture and traditions, including everything from diet to family celebrations. More importantly, they form personal relationships that serve to anchor their experience of Lima and Peru — relationships that often last a lifetime.

What support do Brooks students have while on Exchange?

Exchange coordinators at each of our partner schools take care of our Brooks students and oversee the complete range of their activities. The exchange coordinators are at the center of our students’ exchange experience. Karolina Abraham of the Deak Ferenc Bilingual High School in Szeged, for example, has been with the exchange program for more than 10 years. She teaches English and serves as a senior administrator at Deak Ferenc.

What are students’ academic obligations?

The Exchange is part of the academic program at Brooks. Students receive a Passing grade upon completion of the program and one academic credit, which are recorded on their Brooks transcripts. Upon selection, students are enrolled in the Exchange Course. It meets weekly for four weeks prior to departure and combines academic study, orientation information, and administrative tasks to prepare our students to go abroad and enrich their experience. While abroad, students take the equivalent of four or five major courses and are expected to participate fully in the life of the partner schools. For the spring exchanges, students are expected to confer with Brooks teachers before departure and work independently to keep up with their courses. This work is usually done during normal study hours at each of the programs.

What is the cost to participate?

Let’s Talk!

Exchange Program Director, Brooks School Registrar Lisa Saunders (978) 725-6255 and Assistant Exchange Coordinator, Visual Arts Teacher Max Nagel are happy to answer all questions about Exchange.