WHAT: A multi media event exploring themes of freedom and multicultural misunderstandings from a recent exchange of Northampton and Amherst High School Students and students living in The Hague, The Netherlands. Meet the participants and see and hear about their experiences.
WHEN: June 24th and 25th
WHERE: APE Gallery 126 Main St. Northampton
WHO: The American participants from the exchange
Contact Person: Sheryl Jaffe can be reached at sheryljaffe@yahoo.com.
The event at APE will include photos, digital video, slides show, Q & A, discussion and artifacts from the following exchange:

For three weeks in April 2 NHS students, Isabella Sanchez Leo, Christopher Gonzalez, and Art Teacher Sheryl Jaffe completed the Netherlands portion of the SUN-Youth exchange program. Traveling together with Ala’a El-Shaar, Munther El Alami, and Sister Fatma Abdelwahab all from Al Noor Academy in Mansfield, we were reunited with our Dutch friends who had been here in February. We spent two weeks living with host famlies and attending City+ College, exploring Den Haag, and working on the themes of the exchange.
High school students from all these different backgrounds got together to do a variety of cultural activities and really get to know each other. We went to a comedy show called “Allah made me funny”, a canal boat tour, and attended a National Voetbol (soccer) tournament. The whole group collaborated on an innovative, funny, video exploring themes of freedom and multicultural misunderstandings. This extraordinary, life-changing experience opened all of our eyes to the joys of just being together, sharing and learning about the worlds we share and those we don’t, but maybe could. We are planning a community event at A.P.E. gallery in June and everyone is welcome and invited. This exchange program was coordinated by the Institute for Training and Development, ITD, and was funded by the U.S. State Department. It promises to be a great community event!