The purpose of the Netherlands-Turkey Student Exchange Program is to promote cultural and social awareness between Dutch and Turkish students. Students from Corderius College in the Netherlands and students from İSTEK Vakfı Özel Belde Okulları in Istanbul were the participants in this program this year. The students paid reciprocal visits to each other for a week.
As Belde and Corderius, we have discussed the problems and possible solutions of different global issues, such as recycling, immigration issues and global warming. This student exchange program has countless benefits for us to embark on this international adventure. By going to another country without one's parents and stepping outside an existing social network, we have developed cross-cultural communication skills, responsibility, initiative, self-confidence and accountability for our actions. Learning to work through the challenges of a new culture, family and school has given us increased maturity, confidence and flexibility. We strongly believe that this student exchange program will turn us into future leaders of our countries.
Our partner school, Corderius College, is located in the city of Amersfoort in central Netherlands and there are 1,500 students at this old and prestigious school. Program and project activities started in May 2009 when students from Corderius College visited our country and our school.
In the second phase of the program, İstek Belde High School and İstek Belde Science High School students along with our teachers paid a return visit to the Netherlands between Oct. 26 and Nov. 2. During this visit, we worked together on our projects with our partners from Corderius College.
As high school and science high school students, we made our presentation on the history of Anatolia under the title of “Welcome to Amazing Anatolia,” and performed traditional Turkish folkdances. At the end of the program, we informed our partner school’s students about our UNICEF, or The United Nations Children's Fund, donations and distributed the postcards that we had prepared at our school. Our aim was to encourage Dutch students to think and help other children who are in need of help by donating money to UNICEF.
We won the admiration of the audience for making an impressive presentation and folk dance show. We were honored with the presence of the Turkish ambassador to the Netherlands, and other foreign guests. Our campus manager, Mrs. Lale Hazar, and our teachers were invited by Mr. Nihat Erşen, Turkish consul general to the Netherlands, to the Republic Day reception in Deventer. The Republic Day reception was an occasion to meet Mr. Uğur Doğan, the Turkish ambassador to the Netherlands, and other foreign diplomats. We had the opportunity to share our project. We were very pleased to receive positive feedback from all of them. We were invited to continue with these kinds of projects in different countries in Europe.
Source: hurriyetdailynews.com/
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