The annual Transatlantic Exchange dinner was hosted in April by FCH Board President Sally O’Brien (5s 70-77) at the Mount Vernon Club in Baltimore. About 30 guests (including Old Blues and parents, faculty and exchange students from Gilman and Bryn Mawr, our two exchange schools in Baltimore) came together for a traditional CH dinner complete with toasts and a rousing cheer of Housey! We heard from CH exchange pupils Tanitoluwa Odusina and Rebecca Brown who had jumped right into life at an American high school; having already been shown the sights of New York and Washington DC by their host families. Started in 2005, the Transatlantic Exchange Program provides opportunities for a CH boy and girl to attend the Gilman and Bryn Mawr Schools in Baltimore for a month over the CH Easter break. They then host a Gilman boy and Bryn Mawr girl at Housey in the summer. To date some 40 CH pupils have enjoyed the opportunity to experience school in the US and many have gone on to attend university in the US as a direct result of that early exposure. Indeed, our very first CH exchange student (and former FCH board member) Mark Laichena (MaA 0007) was a Moorehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina.
Tanitoluwa Odusina, Exchange Student:
My name is Tanitoluwa Odusina and I had the amazing pleasure of embarking on the Baltimore Exchange in April 2024. While at Gilman School I was exposed to a different school culture based around supporting one another as brothers and pushing each other to be the best versions of ourselves. Watching the athletics meets and seeing how high the standard of sport is showed me why the USA has been so dominant at the Olympics all these years. The Smiths who were my host family were the most extraordinary people and I am happy to say I am still in close contact with them. They took me to see a range of different attractions and monuments with my favourites being The White House and The Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC (where I learnt about why they are key parts of America’s identity) to the hustle and bustle of New York’s Time Square where I discovered a love for corndogs. I am extremely proud to say I was chosen for this exchange programme and will forever be grateful to The Friends of Christ’s Hospital for making such opportunities available.