30 years of school exchange programs: Oberhausen and Vancouver, WA

Consul General Pauline Kao and Minister of Education Dorothee Feller visit the Heinrich Heine School in Oberhausen

The successful school partnership is based on the commitment of former teacher Gerhard Wüsthoff, who spent a school year at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, as part of the Fulbright Teacher Exchange program in the early 1990s. The personal contacts established there paved the way for the first student exchanges.

For several years, “das Heine” has regularly conducted mutual exchange encounters with Columbia River High School. The German-American Partnership Program (GAPP), a U.S. exchange program of the Pedagogical Exchange Service (PAD) of the Secretariat of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs, supports the participants. The GAPP blog of the participants provides authentic insights into the exciting experiences that the students, along with their teachers Jutta Klempel and Christian Hüskes, have had during this year’s exchange.

School and Education Minister Dorothee Feller and the U.S. Consul General, Pauline A. Kao, took the 30th anniversary of this enduring partnership as an opportunity to visit the school together on August 28, 2023, and express their gratitude for the tremendous commitment. The students enthusiastically shared their exchange experiences with their guests during an open discussion. Dorothee Feller was impressed, stating, “Even in the individual conversations with the students, it was clear how enriching these exchange experiences are for them. And overall, you can tell how fondly and skillfully the school maintains this relationship with American schools in the USA. Yes, I would say it’s a perfect match!”