Highland Student Exchange – Germany 2024


Link to Application Form.

Are you interested in participating in a fun, exciting and memorable  2.5 week long adventure next Spring Break?

Travel with Highland to Ulm, Germany – through an exchange with students from St. Hildegard School.  You will stay in this historic city with your host student, sharing in family and school activities, all while visiting local sties and popular destinations. You can immerse yourself right into life in Germany and build friendships for years to come.  In return, we will host our German buddies for 2 weeks and showcase the Comox Valley and Vancouver Island in October of 2023.

There will be a meeting in mid-late October in room 225.  Date TBA, listen to announcements.

For more information, you can contact:

The City of Ulm




Who may apply?

Interest students in grades 8 through 11 may apply. Students must be in good standing academically with no history of behaviour infractions.

Additional tentative information:

Outbound trip: SPRING BREAK 2024

The group will depart a few days before spring break begins, and spend approximately 10-11 days in host family with their exchange buddy. St. Hildegard school organizes many field trips and local site seeing for our group, and students will get to attend school with their buddy to learn what it is like to attend school in another country.

Our German buddies are all learning to speak English, and most host families can speak some English, so the language barrier is minimal. In addition to our stay with our host buddies in Ulm, we will plan a couple of “add-on” cities to visit with our group before returning to Canada. Possible destinations include Berlin and Cologne.

Inbound hosting side: OCT 2023 or 2024

Our German buddies will arrive in Comox and stay with your family for 12-14 days, and attend school and classes with you! Hosting your buddy is a requirement to participate in the exchange, and is a wonderful experience. We ask that a spare bedroom is provided, though a shared room with your buddy may also be acceptable in some situations as this is short term exchange hosting. Families will need to complete the International program’s becoming a homestay family application.

We plan many field trips for our German guests while they are here to showcase the Comox Valley and Vancouver Island, including 1-2 overnight trips to places like Tofino or Victoria. We expect to be hosting in the final 2 weeks of October, as this time coincides with their Fall Break at school in Germany.

Potential Costs:

The expected cost for the exchange is estimated between $4000-5000. The price includes both outbound trip and the hosting side field trips. This is only a very rough estimate as inflation prices on airfare and travel insurance, and hotel accommodation/ tourist attractions for “add-on” adventures, and costs of local trips for our German guests, will all have a role in determining a final trip budget.

Some fundraising opportunities may be available, at motivation and organization of participating students and their families to be involved in & help offset some trip costs.

How to Apply:

Sign up on the interest list, and listen for announcements. There will be a couple of information meetings for students (and parents if they wish to come), and following these meetings, an on-line application will open. All applicants are reviewed by administration and teachers, and are selected based on suitability and space.

When applications open, you may apply on-line.