Staudinger-Gesamtschule and Del Val are continuing their almost two decade old relationship for this year’s exchange student program.

On Oct. 17, 26 German exchange students will come to Hunterdon County to spend three weeks with select Del Val students.

This year is the first exchange since Covid-19 hit the states in 2020. Now that the pandemic has cleared up, the exchange program has returned.

Starting in 1997, Del Val’s former German teacher, Mr. Scott Cariddi, went on the first official exchange trip. 

Prior to 1997, the German program would go on tours around Germany but never had families to stay with.  They would travel around different parts of the country, but they were never able to fully immerse themselves in German culture.

Cariddi was the first teacher to try to expand these trips into a more immersive experience.

“A teacher from Pennridge had talked to me about this exchange with a school every year in Freiburg, in the Black Forest, but he couldn’t get enough kids to do it, and the ones who did wanted to go every year,” said Cariddi. “[He asked] would you be interested in doing this? And that was that.”  

The schools decided to alternate the years that each school would go to Germany. Del Val went in 1997 and 1999, but the program took a pause in 2001 due to the 9/11 attacks. The program started again in 2004 and alternated years until the pandemic.

Del Val’s current German teacher, Mr. Ben McPherson, went on the trip as a student in 2006, and he would attend the trip as a teacher for the first time in 2014. 

As more desks are being added to classrooms around the school, Del Val staff and students are preparing to welcome the teachers and students from Staudinger-Gesamtschule with open arms, especially after their long absence.

“We’re happy to be able to get it back up and running again, especially after the hiatus we took,” said McPherson.