International Student Ambassadors Travel to Spain

Student Exchange to Vilanova 2015

International Student Ambassadors from Joliet Catholic Academy are welcomed by the mayor of Vilanova, Spain. (Posted by communications56, Community Contributor)

APRIL 23, 2015, 8:41 AM Twenty­four international student ambassadors from Joliet Catholic Academy high school along with two chaperones, Lauren Finaldi and Ellen Herron, completed the second half of a short­term exchange with a Catholic high school in Vilanova, Spain. This is the third year JCA has participated in the exchange program.

Participants lived with families of local Vilanova high schoolers who traveled from Spain in the fall to experience the Joliet Catholic Academy tradition. Students from JCA went to school and attended classes with their host brother/sister. Several students participated in the content of specific courses such as Math, Science, and English. 

The JCA contingent participated in several excursions while in Spain. During a trip to Tarragona, they were able to explore an ancient Roman amphitheater, wall, and circus arena. In Madrid, they toured the Royal Palace and Prado Art Museum. An ornate cathedral impressed the group in the old capital of Toledo. Barcelona left them speechless at the sight of the Holy Family Basilica, which is still under construction, after almost 200 years. 

The heart of the trip was the opportunity to live daily life in another culture and formulate life­long friendships in another part of the world.

International student ambassadors from JCA participating in this year's exchange included juniors Breanna Akre, Casey Corless, Kaci Courtwright, Mia Farrell, Thomas Hilke, Lena Rodriguez, Madelyn Tyler, Kaitlyn Williams and Matt Vonch along with seniors Nataly Cardenas, Samantha DeBenedetti, Emily Demick, Ryan Gulden, Molly Gunning, Dalton Jones, Jacey Lambert, Connor McNulty, Renee McTee, Alex Mihalakakos, Kaitlin Papesh, Michelle Poplawski, Madeline Seneker, Amy Thompson and Adriana Trizna. For more information on JCA's International Student Ambassadors program, contact club moderator, Lauren Finaldi, at lfinaldi@jca­online.org or 815.741.0500. This item was posted by a community contributor. 

JCA Hosts students from Spain

http://www.theherald-news.com/2014/10/03/joliet-catholic-academy-hosts-exhange-students-and-teachers/a9f4kjl/

Joliet Catholic Academy hosts exhange students and teachers

Published: Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014 5:30 a.m. CDT

JOLIET – Joliet Catholic recently hosted 21 students and two teachers from Escola Pia Vilanova, near Barcelona, Spain. This completed the first half of the third exchange with the school.
They arrived Aug. 29th and attended a football game that night. Other group events included a welcome party, several trips to different neighborhoods in Chicago.
Students from Spain also attended school with their host brother/sister. The group departed on Sept. 10. Many will see them again in the spring, when JCA completes the exchange and visit their school.
The following students and their families represented JCA: Colleen Andrae '16, Madalyn Bauer '18, Nataly Cardenas '15, Casey Corless '16, Sam DeBenedetti '15, Emily Demick '15, Valerie DiPietro '16, Michael '15 & Will '18 Dow, Mia Farrell '15, Sydney Gates '16, Molly Gunning '15, Dalton Jones '15, Colby Marchio '15, Lena Rodriguez '16, Madeline '15 & Tom '18 Seneker, Amy '15 & Jenny '16 Thompson, Adriana Trizna '15, Madeline Tyler '16, Monica Underwood '15, Matt Vonch '15, Jay Waldron '16, & Anna Wardlow '15

Copyright © 2015 The Herald-News. All rights reserved.

Chicago Trip with EPIA

 

 

Several JCA students, along with Profe Finaldi and our 23 guests from Escola Pia Vilanova, took a bus tour of downtown Chicago.  We had beautiful weather to travel to the top of the John Hancock, stroll around Millennium Park, grab a bite to eat at Navy Pier, and much more. 

 

Custom Ink T-Shirts for Student Exchange

Custom T-Shirts for Profe Finaldi

JCA/Vilanova by jca/vilanova - over 2 years ago

 

"Joliet Catholic Academy is once again hosting a group of students (this time 15 students and 2 teachers) from Escola Pia Vilanova, a city near Barcelona, Spain. Once again, we ordered shirts for everyone from CustomInk and couldn't be more FELIZ! Our picture shows the group enjoying a little FroYo after a day at school in our cool new T's!" 

- http://www.jca-online.org -jca/vilanova (Sep 09, 2012)

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JCA welcomes EPIA students

JCA families once again opened their homes and their hearts to host students from our sister school, Escola Pia Vilanova.

While here they experienced live at JCA, in our community and in the city of Chicago.  

Joliet Catholic Academy's Spanish Exchange 2012

JCA Spanish Exchange

JCA Short Term Exchange to Spain

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From the community

Joliet Catholic Academy's Spanish Exchange Club enjoys trip to Spain

By Joliet Catholic Academy May 8, 2012 at 12:40 p.m.

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Students from JCA's Spanish Exchange Club pose for a picture during their trip to Vilanova, Spain.

JOLIET – A different language. A different place. A different pace.

“People are a little different when they’re at home,” nodded Lauren Finaldi, a Spanish instructor and the moderator of National Spanish Honor Society and Student Exchange. “When you have the opportunity to see your students living and speaking in this type of environment, it gives you more of a full picture.”

From April 5-18, 14 students from Joliet Catholic Academy’s Spanish Foreign Exchange Club viewed that picture in Vilanova, Spain, a suburb of Barcelona. JCA hosted the same families from Sept. 4-15.

“That gave us a certain comfort level,” Finaldi said. “Vilanova is a half-hour drive from Barcelona – like Joliet to Chicago, the same kind of distance. The kids were impressed that, even though it was a city setting, they could walk everywhere or they could ride bikes. We did a ton of walking over there.

“It’s a very nice lifestyle. Most of the kids either walked or rode their bikes to school, picking up their friends along the way, and you can’t drive in Spain until you are 18. A lot of the kids won’t drive even when they turn 18 because it’s not really necessary. Anywhere that you have to go, you can walk.”

Traveling during the school’s Spring Break to Spain from JCA were seniors Anne Schmig (Joliet), Brittany Rosales (Joliet), Jasmine Smith (Joliet), Nick Humbles (Wilmington), Alessa Smith (Shorewood) and Marissa Cardenas (Plainfield); juniors Carolyn Hall (Plainfield), Madeline Mutz (Joliet), Taylor Madlener (Plainfield), James Hunter Warning (Shorewood) and Michael Kaminski (Joliet); sophomores Alexis Rotnicki (Shorewood) and Cesar Mireles (Joliet); and freshman Nataly Cardenas (Plainfield).

Also along as a chaperone with Finaldi (Naperville) was Katie Drabik (Joliet), who teaches Spanish at JCA. And as educators, Finaldi and Drabik were thrilled to witness the classroom coming alive in real time.

“It was so gratifying to hear the students,” Finaldi said. “There are things you teach in class – the language, obviously. But there are other things you may have told them or tried to teach them.

“Until they go there and they live it, it’s different. Then you hear them talking to each other and they’re saying something like they have discovered it for the first time, and it is amazing how it sinks in.”

For her part, Finaldi considered the trip the realization of a dream and thanked Jeffrey Budz, JCA’s Principal/CEO, for approving the trip. Finaldi went on student-exchange trips in high school and college.

“I have done this many times, so I know the value of it,” Finaldi said. “I went and we hosted students when I was in high school, I went as a college student and I spent a semester there as a grad student.

“I have always dreamed of doing this because I know how much it has shaped my life. It’s the reason I became a Spanish teacher. And for our kids, they will make friends from Spain that can last a lifetime.”

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CustomInk T-Shirts for our Exchange Program

http://www.customink.com/photos/fiesta-1

!fiesta! 

by jca/vilanova - over 3 years ago

"Our high school, Joliet Catholic Academy, Joliet , Illinois, is hosting 11 students and their English teacher from Ecola Pia Vilanova, Barcelona, Spain. We had a fiesta this Friday to celebrate our new friendships. Out Customink t-shirts looked great and helped unite us! Customink was great to deal with and we look forward to using them again!" - 

www.jca-online.org - jca/vilanova (Sep 10, 2011)

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