Report from St.-Willibrord-Gymnasium: Trip to Spangdahlem Air Base:
On Thursday February 5th 2026, 12 students from our school took a trip to the Spangdahlem Air Base. We left by bus shortly after 8:00 AM and traveled together with students from the St.-Willibrord-Gymnasium.
When we arrived at the base, we got our visitor badges and then went to the main area. There was an event where they gave out some kind of certificates to the American students. After the ceremony, we got little presents from the american school and then split up to join our exchange partners in their classes. This was the main focus of the day.
I spent time with my partner, and we first attended a Chemistry class. In this lesson, we actually got to do some experiments and it was great to see how they work in the lab there compared to our school.
Next, my partner had AP classes, which have the purpose to prepare the American students for college. The first AP class involved giving feedback on presentations. The students were presenting their work, and we observed how they critiqued each other’s work. After they were done with that we played card games with the other students and talked about the differences between our schools.
For lunch, we all met up at the Food Court. We bought our own food and drinks there. It was a good chance to relax and talk more with our exchange partners After lunch we had another AP class but this one was an online class, where the students get their tasks beforehand and work on them.
At around 2:30 PM, we drove back to our school. Once there, we briefly discussed the trip with our teachers and were then free to go home.
I noticed that the school building looked very modern in comparison to our school. Also, the daily schedule for the American students was much more relaxed than our schedule here in Germany. They seemed to have more free time and our school life looked pretty strict compared to theirs.
All in all I can say that this trip gave us a great insight into the school life on the Air Base and showed us clear differences in the American and German education systems and daily routines.
