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HIGHTSTOWN: Students ready to depart on Spanish Exchange

By Jen Samuel, Managing Editor
   Eighteen Hightstown High School students have tickets to the Valencia province of Spain. They are set to depart New Jersey on March 28.
   They will be traveling as part of the Spanish Department’s longstanding exchange program to the Western region of the country.
   The program stems from a partnership with the East Windsor Regional School District high school and I. E. S. Jaume I Burriana, which is akin to an American high school. Students from both schools take turns visiting one another through the exchange program bi-annually.
   Donna Ratner, who teaches Spanish at the high school, spearheads the American-end of the bi-country visiting exchange. She will accompany the 18 students to Spain next week. Five other adults will also be traveling on the trip.
   She noted that students would greet one another at the Spanish high school upon their arrival to the Valencia area.
   The trip in total is 16 days. Thirteen of those days will be spent within Valencia. Students have been paired with Spanish peers — most of whom visited East Windsor and Hightstown back in August.
   ”Kids reconnect,” Ms. Ratner said. She noted there is lots of excitement, crying and nerves. She said everyone has been communicating since the first half of the exchange via Facebook and texts, as well as through e-mail and other social media outlets.
   ”It’s a lot of fun to make the connections,” she said.
   Ms. Ratner said many Hightstown High students go on to travel and study in Spain during college.
   She created the partnership with Miguel Llop, an English teacher at E. S. Jaume I Burriana, in 1998.
   ”We decided to work together and give the students more for their money,” Ms. Ratner said.
   ”This is the second-half of the exchange,” Ms. Ratner said of the March 28 trip, which cost $2,550 per student. Ms. Ratner said during the previous visit to Spain they were able to get $100 back due to the exchange rate.
   In the first half of the exchange, the E. S. Jaume I Burriana students were visiting East Windsor and Hightstown for several weeks beginning in August. Thus, they were present for the earthquake and hurricane that unexpectedly hit New Jersey, and the East Coast, in August.
   The 18 East Windsor and Hightstown students traveling to Spain range between sophomores and seniors who are students of the Spanish language. Course levels studied by the students traveling abroad include Advanced Placement, honors and academic Spanish.
   Students will travel to a subterranean river, experience a Spanish Easter, visit Roman ruins, and visit the City of Barcelona.
   The students will be spending the majority of their time in Valencia, a western province.
   ”We will be guided through Toledo for half a day, which has probably the most beautiful cathedral in the world,” said Donna Ratner. “It was a city where all three major religions lived in harmony for many centuries and was the cultural center of the world.”
   The group has guided tours set for Madrid of the Prado Museum, The Royal Palace, the city itself, and a Flamenco show.
   ”We will have entrance into the famous soccer stadium (of) Santiago Bernabéu where Real Madrid plays,” Ms. Ratner said.
   Students will stay with their host families during day trips exploring the region, with exception of a few overnight trips.
   The eighteen high school Spanish students will experience a “paella,” which is a meal of regional shellfish, Ms. Ratner explained.
   Noteworthy, the Spanish Exchange benefited from the sale of 30 dresses sold during a February formal dress sale at Tavern on the Lake, in Hightstown. The goal was to raise funds for the students’ roundtrip bus travel to the airport, according to Ms. Ratner.
   ”People were so generous,” Ms. Ratner said of the experience, and said that parents came to help during the sale throughout the day.
   Of the exchange program, Ms. Ratner said, “It’s a bridge (for students)” and “a chance of a lifetime opportunity."