“I was really scared going out of my country for the first time and it being an exchange,” Peruvian Luka Bartra admitted standing in front of the whole Brooks School community for his speech in Chapel on Monday. “I thought over and over how everything could go wrong and at first, it actually did. My first day, I slept through four alarms in the morning, missing Chapel and almost two periods.”
“The benefits far outweigh the cost of stepping out of your comfort zone,” Majo Sanchez (second from left, alongside Luka Bartra with Molly Deakin and Basel Abdelaziz from Scotland) said of her exchange at Brooks from Peru. “The connections I make here have helped me understand many new things about myself, and I'm incredibly grateful for the time I spent here.”
Slowly but surely the Colegio Trener student from Lima (above left) — who joined classmate Majo Sanchez on exchange at Brooks for the past month — got used to his new environment. Cheering on Brooks sports teams, catching college games, taking a trip to Boston, enjoying dorm life and “doing things that I always wanted to do, like having a snowball fight,” helped him get comfortable. Ultimately, “It became a blast!” he cheerfully reported, urging others to make that same “once in a lifetime” leap: “It helps you understand a different environment and feel how it is living in a place totally different from your home.”
During their day trip in Boston with alumni Katherine Saunders '18 and Madeline Saunders '20, as well as visiting teachers from Glenalmond College Steve Smith and Caroline Murie and Brooks' Director of Exchange Lisa Saunders, the group posed with a statue of Brooks School’s namesake, Phillips Brooks, outside Trinity Church in Copley Square.
When it was her turn at the podium on February 24, Sanchez shared a similar thought. “It was hard to get used to a different structure at first,” she said, acknowledging that initially she was intimidated by venturing to live in another country not knowing anyone. “But I can now honestly say I'm going to miss it when I go back to Peru, even having classes on Saturday.”
Learn all about Brooks School’s Exchange program.
Since its founding in 1986 and a partnership with schools in Kenya and South Africa, Brooks’ Exchange Program has exchanged students with schools across Africa, South America, Europe and the United Kingdom. Most recently, Brooks has partnered with schools in Botswana, Hungary, Peru and Scotland. The goal is to challenge students to extend themselves to another place, another culture, another people, be affected by them and be changed by them to become more empathetic and engaged global citizens.
This week, as the campus community said goodbye to Bartra and Sanchez, they also bid farewell to 11 Brooks students heading out on their exchanges:
- Henry Sumner '26, Kamryn Shumsky '26, Elijah Saliev '26 and Ivy Gong '25 flew out to Szeged, Hungary, on Wednesday. The four will reunite with four Hungarian students who spent fall at Brooks to study at the Deak Ferenc School and live with host families until March 27.
- Leo Charlamb '26 and Abigail Nam '26 jetted to Perth, Scotland, with Basel Abdelaziz and Molly Deakin, who have been on their exchange at Brooks for the past month, to live and study at Glenalmond College through March 26.
- Gage Blevins '25, Giada Musto '26 and Urmi Patel '26 will journey next week on March 3 to Gaborone, Botswana, to live and learn at the Maru-a-Pula School until April 1.
- Kevin Kahu '27 and Angeline Benjavitvilai '26 have to wait until June for their exchange in Peru. The pair will spend six weeks studying at Colegio Trener in Lima, reunited with Bartra and Sanchez.
Scottish exchange students Molly Deakin and Basel Abdelaziz shared some advice to ease the adventurers’ anxiety since they were in the same position just one month ago.
“Don't be scared to get involved and get to know people,” advised Deakin (below left). “Having people to talk to will make your whole experience a lot more enjoyable.”
Before coming to Brooks, Deakin described herself as “extremely nervous I was going to come and end up not enjoying my time here at all.” That worry evaporated within a week, thanks to the welcome from Brooksians on campus. “Even though I was very quiet, even in the short amount of time I spent here, I know that I made some really amazing friends,” she shared during her goodbye speech in Chapel. “… Every new experience has been so much fun.”
Front-load that fun and you’ll be able to fit more in, she added. “Make sure to let people know what you want to do in and outside of school at the beginning of your time at the school, so while you are there you can get to do the stuff you want to do, instead of having to try and cram it in during your last week,” Deakin recommended.
Basel Abdelaziz (above right) was equally focused on urgency in the recommendation that he shared before jetting home to Scotland yesterday, alongside Deakin and the two Brooks students who’ll study with them for a month at Glenalmond College. “My advice would be to go on exchange immediately because a bad experience would only last so long but missing out would definitely last longer, if not forever,” he said. “So take that new class, eat that new dish and definitely play that new sport. Go on exchange!”