On October 28, 2019 a cultural exchange took place at Amityville Memorial High School, which included students from Bayport-Blue Point. What is a cultural exchange? This is where students from a different school attend another school as a student for a day. This allows students of different backgrounds to experience what it is like to attend a school that is often looked at as different from their own.

I took part in the cultural exchange as a host (meaning that a student from the other school would follow my schedule for the day). Throughout the day we did icebreakers to get to know each other, such as Link It Up and a Rock/Paper/Scissors tournament which was then followed by a breakfast. Afterwards we split up and went off into our pairs and they followed our schedule for the day. My partner was often surprised with the way things are run here as they are so different. When students were found to be on their phone in class, often the teacher just told them to put it away. My partner seemed shocked. At her school, students would get detention or even ISS ( in school suspension) for having their phone out or even for talking, but she said that her overall experience was great. 

It will be very interesting to experience a day in the life of a student at Bayport-Blue Point when we visit their school. There will probably be different rules to follow and courses offered, but it will be interesting to see not only how their school system works, but also to see the opinions of the students who spend 5 days a week there.