Editorial

Thanks To All Who Made the
Chilean Exchange Possible

By now our friends from Chile are home safe and sound in Santiago. While we’ll miss them, we hope to enjoy their company again in the future. Their two-week stay here changed perspectives for everyone involved. The Chilean visit enhanced Mason’s understanding of another culture as we hope our visit last spring did for their school.

Exchange programs have many benefits. Among them are improving the speaking skills of all students, an enhanced perspective of each other’s culture, and lasting friendships. The American and Chilean students experienced a change from their environments and this in itself can be beneficial. Even such seemingly small things as experiencing new foods and clothing styles can expand students’ appreciation of the world’s diversity.

In addition, exchange programs provide a chance to show tolerance and understanding for different cultures. We sincerely hope that the students from Chile had a chance to learn something new from our American culture. While staying in Falls Church these past two weeks our visitors have experienced many new things not only in George Mason, but also around the community and surrounding area as well. Trips to Luray Caverns, Old Town Alexandria, and Washington’s new Museum of the Native American Indian hopefully added to their understanding of America’s heritage and culture. Hopefully  these trips were also just plain fun for them. The wonderful musical assembly that the Chilean students and their teachers performed for us certainly was an opportunity for Masonites to learn much more about Latin American culture. The assembly was the most visible manifestation of the strength of an exchange program.

All individuals who worked on both ends of this exchange trip deserve gratitude, especially Spanish teacher Andrea de Gatica (who is from Chile and whose sister was one of the teachers who accompanied the Chilean students) and IB coordinator Brian Dickson. Their efforts enhanced our lives and those of our friends from Chile.

(Note: While everyone on Lasso Online’s staff contributed ideas to this editorial, special credit goes to reporters Elizabeth Ortiz and Adrian Rumingan for compiling these thoughts.)