Effingham, Jasper County / Kelheim, Germany - Student Exchange

History of Our Program

Ralph Ruppel, of Vincennes, Indiana and Mrs Dillon of Indianapolis, originally from Munich, and her mother Mrs. Hof, then of Wasserburg, Bavaria, were the ones to begin the program with the help of the German heritage society of Indiana. Ruppel and Dillon, who were members of the society, started the first exchange between Wasserburg and Vincennes in 1992.

This led to exchanges in 1993 until 1998 when the Bavarian coordinator moved to Kelheim, Germany.  Wanting to continue the exchanges Mr. Schaffner asked Ralph Ruppel to help locate another city in America to exchange with. A connection and exchange was made between Effingham County, Illinois and Kelheim, Bavaria with the first exchange in 1999.

Ten years later the program is going strong , has expanded to five schools and into Jasper County. Serving Effingham High School, Effingham St. Anthony High School, Dieterich High School, Teutopolis High School and now Newton High School the program has grown to be the largest in the Illinois/Indiana bi-state area.  Students from the five area schools began
going to Germany in 1999 and the Kelheim students returned the next year. Since then over 200 Effingham County students have participated in either hosting students from Germany or traveling to Germany.

Help the experience begin.

This year, we will be hosting 40 students from Germany.  If you have a high school student that would be interested in hosting a German student for 2 to 3 weeks, please contact Kim Deters or Kenny Thies at St. Anthony High School at 342-6969.