Since 1997, St. Louis U. High has conducted a semester-long student exchange program with Nanjing Foreign Language School (NFLS), one of the top schools in China. Each year a group of sophomore students from NFLS is chosen through a highly selective application process to study at SLUH for the Spring semester. Scholarships are awarded to top students.

The group is placed with SLUH host families for the length of their stay, and they engage in all aspects of typical student life (athletics, clubs, retreats) while studying at SLUH from January to May. For the first several years of the program, students returned home at the completion of the semester, but recently the program has evolved to include the opportunity for motivated Nanjing students to formally transfer into SLUH as full-time students, and graduate from SLUH two years later. 

As a reciprocal part of this exchange SLUH continues to send students to Nanjing for two weeks each spring. This immersion experience allows Jr. Bills to take classes, and participate in field trips to learn firsthand about Chinese culture.

 

In 1999, then  St. Louis U. High president Paul Sheridan, S.J. and the presidents of two Jesuit schools in Colombia established a partnership to allow young men from both schools to study at these partner Jesuit institutions. Currently, the exchange has focused solely on a partnership between SLUH and Colegio San Pedro Claver in Bucaramanga, Colombia. Each Fall, two freshman students from Colegio San Pedro Claver spend their first semester of the school year at SLUH as full-time students, living with SLUH families, and participating in all aspects of student life. 

This program has a reciprocal exchange for SLUH sophomores/rising juniors  to study at Colegio San Pedro Claver and live with host families from the school for 5-6 weeks in July and August, the summer before the Colombian students arrive each year. 

In the summer of 2014, Jack Costello '15 visited Colegio San Pedro Claver, and passed on these impressions of his time there:

Just like at SLUH, I went to all the same classes that the other students went to, and learned similar subjects there as the students in SLUH do, but all the classes are completely in Spanish. I played on the basketball team for the school and was the center of attention of the students because no one from the United States had ever been to their school before and they just wanted to talk to someone from the U.S. The weekends were very similar to weekends in the United States because the kids from my class would just get together at someone's house to hang out.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience that I wish more people would take advantage of as I did. Not only did I learn how to communicate better in Spanish and the interesting Colombian lifestyle, I also made amazing friends that I am still able to communicate with through social media.

 

In 2015, St. Louis U. High began its exchange program with the Institution Notre-Dame in Chartres, France. Notre Dame is a co-ed Catholic school, with students from primary grades through high school plus advanced preparatory programs. Our exchange involves students whose level corresponds with our sophomore through senior years.

In the fall of 2019, SLUH hosted six boys from N-D Chartres for two weeks. On school days, the Chartres students toured the region and attended selected classes at SLUH. On weekends they took part in the life of the families hosting them as well as participated in other group activities.

SLUH made its first trip to Chartres in the summer of 2016. Since then, the Chartres community has hosted groups of 8-10 Jr. Bills for two weeks each May/June. While visiting, SLUH students live with host families, and enjoy cultural day-trips and in-town experiences each day. The program also includes a visit to Paris for several days to explore a wide variety of sites and learn more about French culture.

 

Each fall, 2-3 sophomore-aged students from St. Petersburg Gimnaziya #209, our long-time partner school in Russia, spend the first semester of the school year at St. Louis U. High living with host families as full-time SLUH students. This long-term program began in 2016 and is reciprocated by our Russian hosts as they host three SLUH seniors while they conduct Senior Project at Gimnaziya #209 each January. 

Additionally, each March/April, a larger group of 10-12 students from St. Petersburg visits SLUH for two weeks. This shorter program includes specialized classes for the group in English, American history, folk music, ceramics, and global citizenship, visits to SLUH Russian classes as cultural ambassadors, as as well as daily excursions to local places of cultural and historical significance. A visit to Chicago is also part of the experience.

This program is the follow up to the visit of our SLUH group of rising seniors/current juniors the summer before for 16 days in June/July. While at Gimnaziya #209, SLUH Russian students take daily Russian classes,  visit museums or places of cultural significance each day, and stay with host families. The program concludes with a 3-day visit to Moscow. After returning, students submit their final reflection papers (in Russian) about their experiences as the program carries SLUH course credit.