ITALY-PHS EXCHANGE: Laura Francolino, Princeton High School (PHS) Italian teacher and organizer of the recent PHS exchange visit with 35 students from Carpi, Italy, prepares for last month’s “History of Pizza in New Jersey” event, which took place at PHS for the students and their host families. (Photo courtesy of Princeton Public Schools)

By Donald Gilpin

Learning another language is a worthy endeavor, but Princeton High School (PHS) students who participated in an Italian exchange program — travel to Italy last fall and hosting a return visit last month by students from Italy and their teachers — were able to add several dimensions to the educational experience.

“I greatly appreciated the opportunity to stay with another family in Italy and to host two of my friends that I made on the trip here in Princeton,” wrote PHS eleventh grader Max Mazo in an email. “Living with an Italian family for a week gave me not only the opportunity to explore and learn the language, but also to temporarily integrate myself into the beautiful daily life and traditions of Carpi.”

He continued, “Hosting my friends also was a special experience. Of course going to New York and out for meals was fun, but the activities with Italian American history and culture with the Carpi students proved invaluable for learning and strengthening friendships.”

The PHS community, including the 14 PHS students who had visited the north central Italian town of Carpi in November and their families, hosted 35 students and three teachers from Carpi for eight days last month.

“The PHS families were so gracious,” said Laura Francolino, PHS Italian teacher and the organizer of the Italian exchange. “They reached out and opened their homes and their hearts and formed a bond with these students.”

Francolino described the scene when the Italian contingent arrived on February 5. “I can’t tell you how happy everyone was when these students got off the bus in Princeton. To re-see these kids after a few months and to see the teachers, It was as if they had known each other for their whole lives.”

It was a busy eight days for the PHS students and their Italian visitors, with the PREA teachers’ union, Dorothea’s House, and the Pettoranello Sister City Foundation helping to sponsor an assortment of different events. The Italian students and teachers enjoyed a luncheon hosted by Dorothea’s House, where they met Princeton Mayor Mark Freda and an Italian language professor from Princeton University.

There was a cooking lesson, funded by the PREA, in the kitchens at Princeton Middle School, where the visitors learned how to make Super Bowl snacks and dip.

Another highlight of the visit was a “History of Pizza in New Jersey” event at PHS where all the students and host families sampled three different types of pizza found in the area, including traditional pizza from Papa’s Tomato Pies, the oldest pizzeria in New Jersey; sfincione, a Palermo-style pizza that Francolino found in Allentown; and traditional Neapolitan pizza provided by Conte’s.

The Italian students sat in on classes at PHS, meeting PHS teachers and other students. They had the experience of a snow day, went bowling, toured the town of Princeton and Princeton University, and went on family visits to New York City and Philadelphia.  Francolino and the Italian teachers enjoyed a Saturday day trip to Washington, D.C.

“Showing the exchange students around the area gave me a new perspective and appreciation for Princeton and the surrounding area,” said PHS junior Devin Levy, who noted that he made a lot of friends on his visit to Italy in November and is planning “to stay connected and visit again in the future.” 

Though she has led many trips to Italy in the summer for students and their parents, this year’s exchange was the first for Francolino, who arrived recently at PHS, and the first PHS  Italian exchange since before COVID-19.

Francolino spent many months making preparations, beginning with finding contacts at the sister school in Carpi, working with a travel agent to make travel arrangements, traveling to Carpi last summer to meet her Italian counterparts and work out details, holding Zoom meetings with PHS parents to explain the program, and more.  “There was a lot to coordinate,” she said.

She continued, “Then we took off. It was wonderful. I don’t even know how to describe it. It was fabulous to see these Italian parents and students take in these children they had never met before.”

The 14 students, along with Francolino and a retired nurse who joined the group, stayed in Carpi for six nights, participating in such events as a basketball tournament, learning to make pasta and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese at the local senior center, and visiting classes at the Carpi school, which is a science high school. 

“It was a wonderful eye-opener for my students,” said Francolino. “They got to use their language skills and they got to know Carpi — a nice, clean, vibrant city with a very diverse population and a remarkable history.”

The Italian hosts organized a day trip to Verona, and the Princeton contingent went on to visit Firenze (Florence) for two days and Perugia for two days.

Junior Valentine Mathews expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the program. ‘I think every student learned a lot from the experience,” she wrote. “There is a lot of beauty in Italian culture and in the connections we were able to establish, but I think the challenges that come with being in a foreign city with an unfamiliar group of people is where the real value of this type of trip can be found.”

She continued, “When you are immersed in a different culture in a place that requires you to discover a new level of self-reliance and individuality you can learn so much in such a short time. I returned from Italy with a new perspective and I think the same is true for the Italian students who came here.”

Madison Tepper-DeCarlo, also a PHS eleventh-grade exchange participant, shared the enthusiasm of her peers. “I really enjoyed being able to connect with people from a different culture,” she wrote. “It also gave me insight into what living a day-to-day life was like in another country. When the Italian students were here, I was very excited to show my exchange student around and give her an insight into what my life was like and how it was different from hers.”

Francolino noted how much her students had learned from the experience about Italian language and culture, and she agreed with Mathews. “Students who went have a different perspective,” she said. “It changes the way you look at things, and I think that’s really important. Whatever we have here isn’t always the only answer.”

She continued, “I’m looking forward to continuing the message: ‘Study Italian. Let’s go to Italy. Let’s live it. Let’s see what we can do. Let’s be there.’”

World Language Supervisor Priscilla Russel, who coordinated bringing the Italian Exchange back to PHS — “It wouldn’t have happened without her,” said Francolino — commented on the district’s exchange programs, which also included a visit from 40 students from a partner school in Colmar, France, earlier this school year.

“These have been overwhelmingly successful, and while they may appear deceptively effortless, the teacher organizers, school administration, and many folks in town worked tirelessly to set up and carry out these wonderful experiences for our students and their families,” she said. The three visiting Carpi teachers stayed with Russel during their eight days in Princeton.

Francolino, who is the only person in the district who teaches Italian, has six different Italian classes from first year through fifth year AP, with several students who finished the program early serving as her teaching assistants. She teaches about 140 students, with all of her classes full this year. 

“That’s a lot of students,” she acknowledged, “but I love what I do.”