Estancia students’ summer highlight: a trip Down Under
A group of Estancia High School students spent three weeks Down Under this summer as an education exchange program with Costa Mesa’s Australian sister city marks its 10th year.
In late July, students Samantha Haynes, Lauren Weisser, Liliana Garcia, Pauline Nguyen, Jim Brown and Liam Jason left for Wyndham, a city in the state of Victoria in southeast Australia.
During their three-week stay, they spent weekdays at Hoppers Crossing Secondary College, sitting with students in class and eating meals in the cafeteria, which the Wyndham school calls the “canteen.”
Weekends included trips to feed kangaroos at Ballarat Wildlife Park and go ziplining at Otway National Park.
Each year, the Australia Sister City Education Exchange Program enables Estancia students to apply for a spot on a trip to Wyndham in July and August to stay with host families. Students at Hoppers Crossing travel to Costa Mesa in January.
“It’s something I never really imagined I would do,” said Liliana, an incoming senior who had never traveled out of the United States before this summer. “When people ask me to explain how the trip was and what I did, all I could say is that it was amazing.”
Some Estancia students had for years looked forward to the chance to grab a place in the exchange program.
“When I was in elementary school, my teacher went on the trip as a chaperone,” said Pauline, an incoming senior. “When he came back, he told our class all about the wildlife and the lifelong friends he made.”
It was enough to encourage Pauline to join many other Estancia students in undergoing a rigorous application process for this summer’s trip.
Would-be travelers must submit an application detailing their involvement in extracurricular activities. They also must give a presentation on two current events in front of a teacher-parent panel.
“It feels good that I can represent my school, but also that my school thought I was good enough to represent them,” said Jim, an incoming junior.
The presentation is meant to prepare applicants for one that Estancia students give to the Wyndham City Council and other groups during their trip.
“We talked about the sick sea lions and climate change in SoCal and related that to the Great Barrier Reef, and we also talked about the [U.S. presidential] election,” Lauren, an incoming senior, said of her group’s presentation this year. “[Every year, students] talk about Estancia, like the classes we have and the sports we offer.”
Linda Tenno, the Estancia students’ chaperone this year, hosted Wyndham students in 2011 when she was principal of Victoria Elementary School in Costa Mesa. She has since retired.
That was the first year that Australian exchange students visited Victoria Elementary to talk about the sports and animals in their country. Students from Wyndham have returned to the school every year since, Tenno said.
“Since Wyndham is in the state of Victoria, we thought it was a great connection that they visit our Victoria,” she said. “To have that interaction helps people in other parts of the world understand us better and vice versa. Just giving kids that perspective that ... although we have some differences, our joys, fears, wants and needs are pretty much the same, no matter where you are.”
Twitter: @AlexandraChan10
