Each year, students and teachers in Loudoun County, most notably Dominion, Park View, and Freedom High schools, participate in the Loudoun International Youth Leadership Summit; a nine day program in which foreign exchange students visit Loudoun County to discuss this year’s theme “Explore the Past, Seize the Present, Shape the Future”, with a specific focus on civil rights, technology and innovation, access to education, eliminating global poverty, and responsive government. This year, Potomac Falls was fortunate enough to be able to participate and host students from Kent, England and Tallinn, Estonia.

 Ms. Marguerite Seling, an ELL teacher at Potomac Falls, was the teacher who took initiative on starting this tradition at our school. “This past August we had a Teacher Development day at Dominion High School, where we talked about the summit program, and I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of it. I wanted the students to be able to see beyond their own immediate experience,” said Seling. This program was aimed to be mostly a learning experience for the students and to broaden their horizons. “Too often we take what we have for granted and assume that is the norm. I was hoping the students would examine their own beliefs and attitudes in a new way. Not to change them, mind you, but to realize there are many points of view all over the world and to take those into consideration,” Selling added.

 Four students from Estonia and four from England visited us from March 30-April 9 this year. They had the opportunity to eat some greasy Five Guys, watch some American sports, get competitive in a game of laser tag, and tour Washington D.C.

 “I really liked the Air and Space Museum because I had actually never seen a shuttle before! I also really like marshmallow fluff, I never knew such a snack existed,” said Kristoff Hokkonen, a junior from Estonia.

 While the English who visited saw some blend of the American culture into their own, the Estonians saw the most contrast in cultures. “One of the biggest differences is that Estonia is so tiny compared to here. We normally take the bus and walk to our destination, but here you have to depend on your cars to get around,” said Hokkonen.

 Mr. Christopher Potter, the teacher sponsor for the English students, saw some small things that really differed Americans from English. “One thing we were not expecting was how patriotic Americans truly are. To stand up before school starts to say the pledge of allegiance every morning was a very cool, yet bizarre thing that we saw,” Potter said

 Sophomore Devin MacGoy hosted Hokkonen for the week that he visited. “It was really cool to be a part of the Summit Dialogues, where we got to sit with all the students from all of the different high schools and talk about civil rights and social issues and whatnot. I gained a really big appreciation for the diversity around the world and love how different people can be,” said MacGoy.

  Potomac Falls will be participating in the program next year and may turn it into a tradition at our school. Keep your ears open for announcements on next year’s summit and see Ms. Seling with any questions!