To mark its 25th Anniversary, South Lakes High School honored its faculty who had been at the school since it opened a quarter century ago. As is tradition, former graduates returned to their alma mater to swap stories, catch the football game or march in the parade. But it was a group of 17 students, on loan from England, who helped make the 2003 Homecoming Week memorable for the current crop of Seahawks and their teachers.
In a cross-cultural show of solidarity, South Lakes opened its doors to 17 British students and two of their Irish-born teachers for a week-long treat of old-fashioned American homecoming festivities. The visit was part of an exchange that began several years ago when South Lakes principal Realista "Rely" Rodriguez visited the Bartholomew School and she started an ongoing dialogue with her counterpart, William Berry. An exchange of teachers between the two schools soon followed. The visit marked the first time students had taken part in the exchange program.
Currently, Fairfax County, citing safety concerns post-Sept. 11, has a moratorium in place barring overseas student trips, but Rodriguez is hopeful that a group of Seahawk students will, one day, return the favor and be able to visit their newfound Bartholomew friends.
DURING THEIR WEEK-LONG visit earlier this month, the exchange students, 15 girls and two boys, stayed with host families and attended classes with student hosts. Principal Rodriguez said the visit was beneficial for all students involved. "Our students have had so much fun with them, talking with them and listening to their accents," said Rodriguez. "I think both sets of students took away a wider perspective on the world."
Except for the accents, Rodriguez was surprised at just how similar students from Reston and Eynsham, England actually were. "They hit it off instantly," the principal said. "They really have a lot in common."
Rodriguez's visiting teachers agreed. "Kids seem to be the same all over the world," said Joanne Hamill, a chemistry teacher.
"They've all been getting on fabulously," said Leanne Hawthorne, a Bartholomew physics teacher.
LIKE SOUTH LAKES, Bartholomew is located in a suburban area near its nation's capital. It is situated 50 miles outside of London and just four miles down the road from Oxford University. While they are both public schools, Bartholomew and South Lakes are quite different from each other, Bartholomew's students and teachers said. The Oxford school is significantly smaller than South Lakes, both in size and its 850 students, ages 11 to 18. Students are required to wear traditional English school uniforms. "Bartholomew is not nearly as culturally diverse as South Lakes," said Hawthorne, a native of Ireland. "This has been a real eye-opener for our students and I think that is great."
Hawthorne's colleague said the trip helped to "break down a lot of misconceptions" that some people have of the United States and Americans. Hamill said some of her students were expecting South Lakes to be like the high school in the movie Grease. "Also, they didn't believe us when we told them about the big yellow school buses," Hamill said. "Yesterday, one girl came up to me and said, 'you're right the buses really are yellow.'"
Visiting student Ashley Pierce said Bartholomew is very "conservative" compared to South Lakes. Pierce said she was enjoying wearing her own clothes and participating in the various spirit week activities. One day, Pierce strolled the South Lakes hall in a recently purchased Penn State University sweatshirt. "I just liked the colors," she said.
South Lakes student Amanda Stearns, who hosted a Bartholomew student, said the English visitors were really impressed with South Lakes fine arts and sports programs. "Their orchestra, art and sports departments aren't really great," she said. "They said that we don't have loads of different coaches for their sports."
Stearns said her new friends enjoyed watching the cheerleaders "do their stuff" during the pep rally. "They don't have anything like that there," she said.
HAMILL, ONE OF THE TWO Bartholomew teacher-chaperones, said she was used to more traditional school layouts in comparison to South Lakes open floor plan. "The class room set up with no windows and no doors would take a lot of getting used to," the chemistry teacher said. "I couldn't yell like I do back home."
During their seven-day trip, the 17 visiting students were treated to a host of Washington-area sights. The group, along with their student hosts, toured, among other things, the White House where they watched President Bush's helicopter take off from the South Lawn, visited two Smithsonian museums, shopped the mall at Tysons Corner, rode the merry-go-round on the National Mall, paid their respects at President John F. Kennedy's grave in Arlington National Cemetery, traveled to George Washington's home at Mt. Vernon, sampled American-style Pizza, gorged on "Blizzards" from Dairy Queen and participated in a host of South Lakes homecoming activities from the powder puff game to the pep rally.
"My favorite part was our trip to the White House. We saw the president," said Bartholomew student Miranda Hammond, 14. "The house was bloody big and really white."
Though it is a busy time of the school year in England, Bartholomew officials and teachers felt it was important to coordinate their exchange with South Lake's homecoming festivities. "What could be more American than that?" asked Hawthorne. "We don't have all of these things so the kids have just taken to everything."
"Some of our girls have been asking for pom-poms," Hamill said, smiling. "They really want some pom-poms to take home with them."
With such a busy itinerary, the visiting teachers credited the South Lakes staff and the host families for being so accommodating. "I can't believe how friendly and open everyone here is. Everybody is always ready to help out," said Hawthorne. "The kids have made lifelong friends."
Jane Williams was one of those hosts. Williams and her husband, South Lakes PTA president Ridge Loux and mother of 16-year-old junior Megan Loux, hosted two 16-year-old British girls, Kate Thorne and Laura Ketley. "It was a whirlwind, but I think they really enjoyed themselves," Williams said after the students had returned to England. "They didn't have nearly enough time, but it was a neat experience and they really lucked out with the weather. I had to tell them that it isn't always this nice in Virginia."
"They certainly loved to shop," Williams added.
During her visit, Thorne said she went to three area malls: Tysons Corner, Fair Oaks and Dulles Town Center. "There so much different shopping here," Thorne said. "I don't want to go home yet."
Williams added that she "would love for Megan to go," but she doubted that the county would lift the ban before her daughter graduates.