Summit-Schenkendorf Elementary School Exchange
1993 – Present
Summitt-Schenkendorf Elementary School Exchange
Summitt-Schenkendorf Elementary School Exchange
Our most unique exchange is between Austin’s Summitt Elementary School and Schenkendorf Elementary School of Koblenz. Teachers, students, and parents are included in their two-week long exchange visits.
When a Koblenz Business Delegation visited Austin in 1992, the Austin-Koblenz Sister Cities Committee wanted to give gifts to delegation members. The Committee asked Diane Mansfield, the art teacher at Summitt Elementary at the time, to have students paint pictures to be presented as the gifts. Mansfield asked her fourth graders to paint pictures on the theme, “What I love about Austin.” The committee chose the best paintings and had them framed.
After the Austin-Koblenz Sister Cities Committee presented the framed artwork to the Koblenz Business Delegation, the Koblenz businessmen offered to sponsor trips for the student artists to visit Schenkendorf Elementary School in June of 1993. Several Committee members, Mansfield, and a number of parents, took the children on the trip. The following year, the Schenkendorf students, teachers, and parents decided to return the visit. The exchange has continued ever since with the Summitt group traveling to Koblenz in June of even-numbered years and the Koblenz group coming to Austin in April of odd-numbered years.
While exchange programs for high school students are somewhat common, no elementary school exchange programs had ever been attempted before. The trip for the Summitt artists was a gift from the business delegation, but the program that evolved became what it is today, a family exchange financed by fund-raisers and the families. Now, children write essays about why they want to participate in the program, and a committee chooses the participants. Parents must be committed because there is fund-raising all year long, along with weekly meetings for the students and monthly meetings for parents in preparation for the trip.
When a Koblenz Business Delegation visited Austin in 1992, the Austin-Koblenz Sister Cities Committee wanted to give gifts to delegation members. The Committee asked Diane Mansfield, the art teacher at Summitt Elementary at the time, to have students paint pictures to be presented as the gifts. Mansfield asked her fourth graders to paint pictures on the theme, “What I love about Austin.” The committee chose the best paintings and had them framed.
After the Austin-Koblenz Sister Cities Committee presented the framed artwork to the Koblenz Business Delegation, the Koblenz businessmen offered to sponsor trips for the student artists to visit Schenkendorf Elementary School in June of 1993. Several Committee members, Mansfield, and a number of parents, took the children on the trip. The following year, the Schenkendorf students, teachers, and parents decided to return the visit. The exchange has continued ever since with the Summitt group traveling to Koblenz in June of even-numbered years and the Koblenz group coming to Austin in April of odd-numbered years.
While exchange programs for high school students are somewhat common, no elementary school exchange programs had ever been attempted before. The trip for the Summitt artists was a gift from the business delegation, but the program that evolved became what it is today, a family exchange financed by fund-raisers and the families. Now, children write essays about why they want to participate in the program, and a committee chooses the participants. Parents must be committed because there is fund-raising all year long, along with weekly meetings for the students and monthly meetings for parents in preparation for the trip.
