By Emma van der Schyff, Sara Shuttlewood, and Kevin Nicholls, Australian Exchange Students

Exchange started as an elusive dream, an idea that Emma and I (Sara) thought to be too good to be true. However after the application process and several interviews, the dream darted toward reality. We were granted the overseas adventure. St Mark’s was then assigned to us a couple of weeks later. The countdown began–271 days until take off. During this period, we were fortunate to meet Mr. Warren, Dr. Warren, and their lovely daughter Amanda during their trip to Australia. This only excited us even more that we had already met integral people at St. Mark’s. Kevin had requested America as a possible exchange, because of his interest in learning about the culture. Kevin was granted the opportunity, and this trip would be his first overseas.

We were very lucky to have received St Mark’s as our exchange school. The atmosphere is wonderful and the people are so welcoming. We are so grateful for this opportunity and look forward to welcoming future St. Markers to our schools in Australia. We took the opportunity to speak during the school’s weekly “15-Minute Lecture” program:

Kevin Nicholls is a year ten student at The Southport School in Southport, Queensland, Australia. Emma van der Schyff and Sara Shuttlewood are year ten students at St. Hilda’s School.