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. 

Ecuadorian and PHS students visit the top of Edge at 
Hudson Yards in NYC, the highest outdoor sky deck 
in the Western Hemisphere, on an excursion hosted 
by Caminos Princeton (caminos means “roads” in 
Spanish)

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