They chose Neuchâtel to learn French and develop projects around diversity, equality and integration. Fifteen young Americans from high school in Lexington, a town near Boston, are on exchange from February 16 to 26 in the canton. They are welcomed into the families of 8 high school students from Lycée Jean-Piaget and 7 from Lycée Denis-de-Rougemont.
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An innovative project
The program called “NeuLex” aims to be innovative for its concept of “Blended Mobility”, a mixed mobility combining remote and face-to-face meetings. Young Americans and Neuchâtel residents have been working together since the summer of 2021 to create projects concerning LGBTQIA+ issues, feminism, the inclusivity of transgender people and the inclusion of women in technology.
This project work is another innovation that facilitates language learning, according to Stephan Bucher, cantonal coordinator of exchanges and mobility for higher education.
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Diversity, equality and integration
Lexington High School is “60% non-white,” says Beckie Rankin, French teacher and exchange coordinator for Lexington. She explains that the school has core values of diversity, equality and inclusion.
The American establishment has a director of diversity who works against racism and gender stereotypes. And high school places great importance on the presence of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
Beckie Rankin explains one of the reasons why she chose Neuchâtel over France as a destination for her students.
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The exchange does not only benefit the students. It is also an opportunity to open up to the practices of the other high school and perhaps to integrate them at home. Stephan Bucher’s explanations.
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Lexington students will visit Switzerland until February 26. Then it will be the turn of Neuchâtel to visit them in the spring. The NeuLex exchange project is subsidized by Movetia, the Federal Agency for Mobility and Exchanges and the Mercator Foundation. /mde
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