Small School, Big Impacts by Abigail

Small School, Big Impacts by Abigail - November 2019 Scholarship Essay

My school is... unique. We're an early college. Not many people know about us - we start attending this school in 10th grade on a college campus, and begin to take college classes more and more during our time there, until 13th grade, when we have a full college schedule (but are still technically high school students). At our school, we have about 180 students. We are tiny, but mighty. Since our school is so small, the students are empowered to have a large impact within it. As a 13th grader at OEC, during my years here I've been able to do a multitude of things for our school, but the first is my favorite and most memorable.

In 10th grade, I didn't do much unfortunately, as I was struggling with severe health issues. The following year, I decided to study abroad in the tiny South American country, Uruguay (because why not?). I was having a blast, and began to explore all sorts of different things about South American/Uruguayan culture. It was absolutely enlightening. Having such a great experience at my new Uruguayan high school, I knew I should find a way to share it with my American one. I soon talked to my favorite teacher (who taught Philosophy) about doing a sort of "video swap" between our class, and my Spanish one in the US at OEC. He excitedly agreed, as he loves to explore different humanistic perspectives. My Spanish teacher also agreed, as she thought it would be great practice for her students. So, the video production began, and everyone was having a blast! Both classes loved the idea of communicating with the other across the ocean. One of the students in Uruguay, Maite, said after the video swap:
It was very nice to make the videos, to tell her Spanish class in the U.S. how we live, all the different customs and culture that we have. We are very different countries and it is good to meet each other! It was a very nice and fun experience, I hope they liked it and learned from us. ¡Besos!
In the US, my friend Maya stated after making the video:
I really enjoyed doing the project, because I learned so much about how school and life in general of teenagers works in Uruguay. I did not know much, if anything, about Uruguay so it was really cool for me to hear them discuss how schooling and socializing plays out for them. I was opened to a lot of different culture that I have not had exposure to before. I also had a really good time filming and watching the videos that we sent to them. It was definitely a really unique and enjoyable experience and brilliant idea that I am glad my class as a whole participated in. I am so glad I was able to learn about a whole other culture and participate in such an important experience!

With this success, I felt the impact the project had on me, and my schools in both countries! It prompted me to create the cultural exchange program, "Shared Exchange" (SE). You can see the continued impact of SE at my schools and others on the program's website at : www.SharedExchange.org. See also the "Successes" tab": http://www.sharedexchange.org/successes.html.