PHS hosts Ecuadorian students, completing the second part of Caminos Princeton

This summer, 8th grade students attending Princeton Middle School had the opportunity to travel to Ecuador with Caminos Princeton, an Ecuador exchange program founded by PHS Spanish Teacher Alessandra ClemensLores and Enriqueta Alban, a Spanish teacher at Community Park Elementary school.

On October 30, the same Ecuadorian students that hosted the now PHS students flew to Princeton and spent eight days at PHS learning about American culture. The Ecuadorian students visited places including New York City, Princeton University, and BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham USA, a large Hindu temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey.

For Alban, it’s crucial that all students are able to see that there’s something else beyond the world language classroom, both in terms of their growth as individuals and as global citizens.

“We truly believe that in order to understand whatever language that you're learning, you also need to understand and to be exposed to the culture. We decided to do Ecuador because [in] Ecuador they speak a very neutral Spanish, [so] it's easy for the students to understand,” said Alban.

For Edison Del Cid Gomez ’29, one of the highlights of the trip was going trick-or-treating in Princeton with his exchange student.

“We've introduced them into Halloween, because in Ecuador, it isn't very popular to dress up and go trick or treating,” said Gomez.

Alex Wayne ’29 hosted Matias Crow, and though Wayne only recently completed the exchange program this summer, he is already thinking about participating in another exchange program in the future.

“It's been a pleasure to have Matias at my house. It's helped me realize how people live outside of the United States. I got to see how people live in Ecuador firsthand — the different ways that people go about their life — and it's really helped expand my cultural appreciation,” said Wayne.

Crow, for his part, also enjoyed spending time in Princeton. Like the other Ecuadorian students on the trip, Crow lives in Quito, Ecuador’s capital city with over 2.8 million residents.

“I think Princeton is a beautiful place to live, because I think people are very nice [to each other]. I think [PHS] is so big and has a lot of students, because in Ecuador, it's not like that,” said Crow.

Alban emphasized that the program connects communities in Quito and Princeton; activities such as service in the Amazon Rainforest strengthen cultural and historical appreciation across international borders.

“We want them to experience the traditions, the culture, [and] the language ... my favorite part will be when I see our kids from Princeton able to communicate in Spanish to [the] locals. They're able to order what they want to eat [and] they're able to connect with the community,” said Alban.