exchange students

In the year 1995 just at the beginning of our Sister-City-Relationship President Bill Sell suggested a student exchange as a basis for a common future of the partnership.

Furthermore Superintendent Mr. Paul Blaine invited students to attend Memorial High School in St. Marys. Up to that time students from Lienen had participated in the program of the Lengerich-Wapakoneta student group. Now they were given an opportunity to travel to St. Marys.

In 1999 Tammo Ibershoff was Lienen's first student to spend 10 months at St. Marys Memorial High School.. In the following year his brother Nando followed his foothpath. In 2001 two girls set out for the overseas adventure: Andrea Hülsmeier for 10 months and Nicola Schmiemann for 5 months. Two years later Sonja Schwarze spent 10 months in St. Marys. In 2004 Nele Sundermann and Ramona Stehr started a 5 month High School stay. The costs and the paperwork for the students have risen substantially, therefore we are running an experiment with a three months stay with a tourist -visum. In 2005 Vera Minneker and Stephan Schmiemann were taking part in this new attempt. Moreover many other students from Lienen and Lengerich have been and will be hosted in St. Marys for four weeks. All of them felt well and they took home a lot of impressions.

Of course the board officials from Lengerich and Lienen have always closely cooperated in organizing this exchange, at first Dr. Alfred Wesselmann and now Mrs. Ursula Hohmann-Assig from Lengerich and Dr. Gaby Schmiemann from Lienen. We have developed a common conception for the German as well as for the American group. We have always considered ourselves as one team and therefore sent Lengerich students to St. Marys and Lienen students to Wapakoneta too. Friendships formed before have always been more important to us than community borders.

Fortunately little temporary misunderstandings on the part of our American friends have been cleared up by now.

With these lines, we, the group from Lienen want to express our gratitude for this wonderful teamwork. Our American friends always find a way to host so many German students, although they can send only few Americans. Many thanks to our partners in Lengerich, without them a student exchange would not be possible for Lienen.

On this occasion Lienen wishes this "sister-city- friendship" a prosperous future that will bear rich fruit and constructive and harmonious cooperation .