北公园与瑞典SVF长达50年的合作关系得到了现代化的改造.
By Ellen Almer BA ’94
自1891年成立以来，亚游集团官方网站与瑞典的联系一直很紧密, 但大约50年前，随着与一所名为Södra Vätterbygdens Folkhögskola (SVF)的小型学校的亲密交流项目的增加，这种关系加深了。.
SVF与亚游集团官方网站合作，提供瑞典学生和亚游集团官方网站学生在彼此校园交换时间的体验. 由此产生的项目现在是美国和瑞典学校之间最长的交流项目，并且仍然是北公园标志性的传统.
“我们有传统的圣约学生来北公园只是为了参加SVF,” said Chad Eric Bergman, interim co-dean of North Park’s College of Arts and 科学.
“这是我第一次出国……从建筑到语言到文化，整个存在和看待世界的方式与我在明尼苏达州长大的方式有很大的不同。. And just being outdoors. It still feels like the air is so fresh and crisp in Jönköping.”
josh Hiben
事实上, 几代家长和学生都参加了这个独特的项目, 该项目经过多年的发展，但从根本上来说仍然是一种队列交换，瑞典和美国学生在两个校区共同生活和学习.
这种安排造就了一生的友谊，甚至是跨国婚姻. Ida (a Swede) BA ’12, MOL ‘17 and Josh (an American) Hiben BA ’12, MDiv ‘18 met through the SVF program.
Among their favorite memories of the program: Cooking and taking walks with fellow students; Josh eventually becoming a coffee addict thanks to daily Fikas; and a class Ida took with Bergman, which strengthened her English skills.
Josh年代aid his first reaction to landing in Sweden was revelatory.
“这是我第一次出国……从建筑到语言到文化，整个存在和看待世界的方式与我在明尼苏达州长大的方式有很大的不同。. And just being outdoors. It still feels like the air is so fresh and crisp in Jönköping.”
尽管各机构之间存在着本质上的差异，但该项目还是取得了成功. While North Park is a traditional four-year university, SVF is known in Sweden as a “folk high school,这是那些没有上大学，但希望获得更多生活技能的学生的一个选择.
According to John Ahlström, the Swedish director of SVF’s exchange program with North Park, 这个项目刚开始的时候非常受欢迎，因为在20世纪70年代很少有这样的交流项目. 在该项目大约20年前的鼎盛时期，该校只有12个名额，却有100人申请.
然后, in the early 2000s, things slowly began to change. Exchange 项目 became extremely popular, ,很快, Swedish students had many options for studying in America. At the same time, North Park’s student population diversified, with fewer Swedish Covenant students enrolling. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, and international 项目 halted, Ahlström and Bergman feared the partnership might not survive.
“For the past four years, we’ve had to reenvision how this could work,伯格曼说。, who has worked closely with Ahlström on redesigning the program. 去年冬天, 校长玛丽·萨里奇和教务长迈克尔·卡尔陪同伯格曼前往SVF，部分原因是为了重振北公园与SVF的联系.
该组织很快确定，学校可以很容易地重新设计这个项目，把重点放在现代话题上.
Ahlström说:“我们提供的东西比前来探根的人多得多。. “Sweden is known for its progressive policies. 来到这里的学生了解我们如何处理2015年的难民危机, and how we handle climate change and recycling. There’s so much to learn here.”
类似的, SVF students who come to North Park learn about life in a large, intercultural city such as 芝加哥.
“如果你足够幸运，在年轻的时候就有这样的机会, then you can enter adulthood already knowing yourself better, knowing yourself better, knowing your values and perhaps how you want to live your life.—Marit Johnson Awes
Once the pandemic receded, Bergman found North Parkers were still interested in going abroad.
“我们发现学生们仍然对拥有国际经验感兴趣, but maybe not for an entire semester,伯格曼说. “我们不一定保留传统的交流方式，但我们创造性地保持了这种交流方式.”
Bergman and Ahlström’s teams developed a new program structure. 在秋天, 在第二学期来到北公园校园之前，伯格曼给SVF的学生们上了一门关于芝加哥的在线课程. 然后, 5月, SVF的学生和一群三年级的北帕克学生回到瑞典进行为期三周的居住.
The residency focuses on a single topic, 比如几年前伯格曼关于失传的写信艺术的研讨会.
虽然这个程序的外观和感觉在过去的几十年里不断发展, it still breeds deep devotion among its participants.
Marit Johnson Awes BA ’03, MA ‘11 participated in the program her sophomore year, as most students do.
“我和我的朋友们坐火车周游欧洲，在博物馆或城堡排长队时玩沙包游戏,” recalled Awes, who still travels to Sweden to visit friends she made there. “我们在火车上睡在对方的肩膀上，每天早上在旅馆的厨房里一起打包午餐，在我们探索的时候省钱 city we were in that day.”
伯格曼和Ahlström希望利用这种情感上的喜爱来一次50周年纪念之旅, perhaps as soon as next fall.
Marit Johnson Awes BA ’03, MA ‘11 participated in the program her sophomore year, as most students do.
“我和我的朋友们坐火车周游欧洲，在博物馆或城堡排长队时玩沙包游戏,” recalled Awes, who still travels to Sweden to visit friends she made there. “我们在火车上睡在对方的肩膀上，每天早上在旅馆的厨房里一起打包午餐，在我们探索的时候省钱 city we were in that day.”
伯格曼和Ahlström希望利用这种情感上的喜爱来一次50周年纪念之旅, perhaps as soon as next fall.
阿维斯给年轻人的建议是，要充分利用一切旅游机会.
“Sweden is known for its progressive policies. 来这里学习我们如何处理2015年难民危机的学生, and how we handle climate change and recycling. There’s so much to learn here.”镜头转Ahlström
“如果你足够幸运，在年轻的时候就有这样的机会, then you can enter adulthood already knowing yourself better, knowing your values and perhaps how you want to live your life.”
For the Hibens, their decision to participate was life-changing.
“它改变了我们的生活轨迹，给了我们一生的朋友，也给了我们一个真正的机会，让我们沉浸在一种新的文化中,” Ida Hiben said. “这种合作关系在学生生命的形成时期提供了思想和文化的交流.”
