The possibilities of exchange

The possibilities of exchange

It seems rather unlikely that a girl who lives in Longfield, Kent, will find time amongst her school days to wonder about feeding llamas or spend a day with a tribe in the Peruvian jungle.

But then again, it’s not impossible.

Particularly not if you go to Cobham Hall.

In fact, Year 11 student Robyn Fuller has done just that, recently returning from an exchange to Lima, Peru, where not only did she feed llamas, and swim in waterfalls in the jungle in Chanchamayo, but also went white water rafting and spent time helping with construction on a community project in a remote Peruvian village.

One of the many highlights of her trip was the service project which saw her renovating a school in a very poor village and getting to know the village children.

“We looked after a child for the week. We had to give them books and clothes because they were so underprivileged. All their skin was burnt from the sun so we’d give them cream every day and it did improve. We read to them and played with them and things like that.

“It was really rewarding to give something back,” she said. 

Robyn’s exchange was made possible by a number of factors, not least of which is Cobham Hall’s membership of Round Square, a worldwide association of school which believes education goes beyond the classroom.

The ethos of the organisation is to teach students the importance of the Round Square ideals of internationalism, democracy, environmentalism, adventure, leadership and service. One of the ways in which this is done is through student exchanges in many different countries around the world.

Financially, the trip became a reality through a combination of Robyn’s own fundraising efforts which covered a third of the cost as well as the school contributing another third from its Round Square Bursary.

The bursary which is intended to give financial support to girls who wish to go on Round Square Exchanges and Round Square International Service Projects, is an initiative of the school.

Robyn’s Form Tutor, Mr Peter Hosford says he has noticed a change in Robyn since she has returned from her exchange for her GCSE year.

“She has returned much more confident and enthusiastic in her studies,” he said.

“She is keen to do well and would really like to stay at Cobham and study the IB if possible.”

Robyn is also aware that her confidence has received a huge boost from her experiences in Peru.

“I definitely became more confident because being thrown into situations where you don’t know anyone and going on a week holiday with them…it’s like “Whoa…hi!”

So her advice for other students going on exchange comes as no surprise.  

“Go for it…if I could do it and I’m really under confident, then anyone can do it. It’s so worth it,” she says.

A number of other students went on exchange to Australia and Germany over the summer.