Exchange Opportunities
ROUND SQUARE EXCHANGES
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very year, MLC School students have the opportunity to undertake a two-week exchange to other Australasian Round Square schools. This experience is both rewarding and challenging, helping students to develop
confidence, independence, resilience and self-esteem. MLC School students travel to their host school and become a member of the host school community.
Past exchange opportunities have taken place in Northern Ireland, South Africa, Singapore, and Switzerland, as well as interstate opportunities. Here are some excerpts of just a few exchanges.
EXCHANGE TO ST STITHIANS COLLEGE ZOE LATHAM (YEAR 12)
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n Year 11, I went on a six-week exchange to St Stithians College in South Africa and gained a different world perspective.
Staying with my new family with four siblings, my lifestyle was very different to home but it enabled me to experience many new things. Round Square Exchange in South Africa provided me the opportunity to watch a cheetah lazily stroll across the African plains, fly down a two-kilometre zipline with my host sister, and attend a school completely different to MLC School.
South Africa is one of the most vibrant and friendly countries I have ever visited and everyone went out of their way to make me feel welcome and comfortable. I will be forever grateful for being able to make lifelong friends halfway across the world, to have spent time outside of my comfort zone and to have gained a second family and home. I look forward to the day I can go back to visit my friends and family in this incredible country.
EXCHANGE TO WOODLEIGH SCHOOL KATE CARTWRIGHT (YEAR 9)
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uring the last two weeks of Term 3 2016, I participated in a Round Square exchange to Woodleigh School in the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria and stayed with a wonderful family at Mount Martha. Before I left for exchange, I was reminded of one simple word, ‘adapt’. This made me open to all the things that my host family and Woodleigh did differently to what I was used to; and instead of it being intimidating, I kept in mind that it was not wrong, it was just different. Adapting to the situations that were thrown at me didn’t just make me more open minded to other ways of doing things but it also allowed me to really appreciate all that I did while I was there.
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MLC SCHOOL
Woodleigh is a co-ed school and completely connected to nature. The teachers were inviting and included me in all classes allowing me to have a glimpse of the ‘Woodleigh way’, which focuses on respect, and reflects the Round Square IDEALS. Despite having attended a co-ed school for all my education until starting at MLC School, it was a surprisingly unfamiliar feeling being back in a mixed gender school. And another big difference was that Woodleigh has no uniform, just a colour code. My exchange family were very welcoming, allowing me to feel a part of the family and participate in activities like fencing and surfing. Their kindness was wonderful.