By Gabby Dunn

Collegiate has many partner schools all around the world. I had the privilege of visiting one of them, Colegio Alminar in Sevilla, Spain, and the community there still resonates with me, two years after my trip.

Colegio Alminar is a Junior Kindergarten through twelfth grade Catholic independent school in Dos Hermanas, Spain. Collegiate has been sending students to Spain for many years, and Claire Andress (‘17) wrote about her trip in 2016. After my week-long trip to Sevilla, Cadiz, and Granada, I shared Andress’ sentiments, that the students and teachers that welcomed me to Sevilla were unlike those I would find anywhere else. 

As the bus pulled up to the front gate on our first day, my stomach filled with butterflies. I couldn’t help but wonder what similarities and differences there were between Collegiate and Colegio Alminar. After spending three nights with the students and their families in their homes, my classmates and I left to continue our journey through southern Spain. As we left Sevilla, I remembered how much I enjoyed the company of all of those around me. Now, two years after that trip, I have the same feeling. 

This fall, I had my second encounter with the students and teachers of Colegio Alminar. During my Senior Capstone class, the International Emerging Leaders Conference (IELC), I met four students from the school, as well as their teacher, Maximo Cerezo Plata, whom I had already met when I visited Spain. Plata has been bringing students to the conference since it was created ten years ago, and Collegiate students have been going to Colegio Alminar biannually for just as long. During IELC, I made connections with students unlike myself and got to know the Spanish students better.

According to Colegio Alminar’s website, they hold strong values in “tolerance, respect, academic excellence, peace, responsibility, and independence.” Although most of their students are Spanish, Colegio Alminar prides itself on its British-style curriculum and language focus. 

Maria Muñoz (‘20), a twelfth-grade student at Colegio Alminar, explained her extracurricular activities and mentioned that “ I used to attend extracurricular English classes, but this year I stopped because we are doing more of it in our classes.”* Muñoz explained that she has “11 classes in [a full year split between trimesters], but only six of them are core classes.” During a typical day for her, she states, “ I get up, brush and fix my hair, and then go to school… After school, normally I arrive home, rest, do homework, and use two days of the week to exercise outside of school.”  

Their lunchtime routine may be surprising to many Americans. Muñoz says, “Normally on Mondays in school, I have an hour and a half of classes after I eat [lunch]. But on Tuesdays through Fridays, I leave before that and eat at home around 3:30 pm.” While most students would find it strange to leave school and eat lunch at home, it is common for many students all around Spain and in other parts of Europe. 

Another surprising difference between the Spanish and American cultures and Collegiate and Colegio Alminar involves athletics and extracurriculars. After-school activities are valued so much in the United States, and also at Collegiate. Our Upper School’s two-sports requirement promotes athleticism, a healthy lifestyle, and time management, and athletics bring the community together. At Colegio Alminar, students must participate in sports and the arts outside of school if they desire to. Muñoz says, “We don’t have any obligatory sports programs other than our physical education classes. Normally, if you want to do a sport or train for one, you have to do it on your outside of school, and the same with arts programs.” 

Students commonly go home after classes finish, eat lunch, take a brief resting period, or “siesta,” before starting their homework. Those who participate in activities such as athletics or arts do so on their own time. Many students commonly meet other classmates and friends to play pickup games. My host student from two summers ago, Miriam, shared that she played piano and learned Chinese and English on her own time. She attended lessons occasionally on weekdays to improve her skills.

Other students and teachers at Collegiate also have fond memories of our partner school. When Emma Blackwood (‘20) visited Colegio Alminar, she thought the school was “beautiful” and she “noticed how kind all the students were with their welcome.” She commented on how it was “easy to be with them.” The most interesting thing she took away from her own time in Spain was “how different the Spanish learning system was.”

*All quotes from Muñoz are translated from Spanish.