Mike Rutherford’s final year of high school is anything but normal.
The 17-year-old student, who lives in St. Marys and completed Grades 9-11 at DCVI, is completing Grade 12 at Neuchatel Junior College in Switzerland, where students get to experience educational trips that focus on the arts, music, history, geography and science, as well as the culture that enhance their learning.
The college, which is the oldest Canadian high school in Europe, offers a one-year semestered program and Ontario Grade 12 curriculum for students who are planning to attend university or college. Rutherford learned of the college from his aunt, who attended in the past and had a great experience. He successfully completed the extensive application process, which included written essays and several references, last year.
“It was lots of work, but it was worth it,” said Rutherford, earlier this week from his parents’ Emily Street home during his brief stay over the holidays. “(It was a) chance to do something different,” he added of his decision to apply to the college, “to learn about different cultures and some great travel opportunities.”
In late September, Rutherford and a group bicycled through the Burgundy region of France and learned about traditional wine and cheese making practices.
A few weeks later, he travelled to Krakow, Poland, where the group -- as part of a World War II based trip -- visited the Auschwitz concentration camp, where close to 1 million people died. He said walking through the camp, notably the gas chambers, was an emotional experience. “It hit a lot of people really hard,” he added.
Students also visited the Jewish Quarter and salt mines, and experienced local cuisine.
In November, the entire student body attended the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium, just a short distance from France and the United Kingdom. “It was not just British coming over, a lot of the locals came out....it’s definitely still a big deal,” he added.
The group also visited the memorial at Vimy Ridge, where Rutherford said seeing all of the names of Canadian soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country “makes you really proud to be Canadian.”
Just last month, Rutherford visited Paris, France for his world history class, where he toured the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and Palace of Versailles, took a cruise on the Seine River and climbed the Eiffel Tower.
Rutherford is one of only 94 students at the college, which attracts students from across Canada. His classmates come from as close to his home as London, ON and as far as White Rock, BC.
Away from school, Rutherford lives with a French family in a small town -- where he jokes that his Grade 10 French skills are put to the test -- that is about a 20 minute train ride to his school. “They bring you right into the family,” he said of his hosts.
In his spare time, Rutherford has done some sightseeing, but still hopes to visit Spain and Italy and visit relatives in the United Kingdom before June, when he plans to returns home for the summer before heading to university, likely in Guelph or London, ON.
But his travels aren’t over just yet. In April, Rutherford will join his classmates one more time and head to Nepal, where they will hike into the mountains to deliver and install LED lights to families in remote villages in the Himalayas who are still burning kerosene lamps as their main source of light. The trip is being organized through the school and the Light Up the World Foundation and Climb for Leaders.
“It’s a great opportunity to do something different,” said Rutherford, “something as simple as light...we take it for granted here...but they have to buy expensive kerosene and burn it in their homes.”
Each year students at the college are expected to participate in a service project. While some students plan to help build homes in Morocco or Hungary,  Rutherford and some of his classmates decided they wanted to help young students by providing light so they can read at night, since many work with their parents during the day. He noted that the literacy rate in Nepal (42 per cent) is the lowest in Asia.
Rutherford admitted that the three-week trek is “quite intimidating,” noting that he had to pass fitness and physical strength tests before being accepted. To prepare,  Rutherford and his classmates hike in the mountains of Switzerland for three hours each week and are in the gym twice a week for cardio and strength training.
Rutherford said the they’ve been told they can expect weather ranging anywhere from “shorts and t-shirts during the day to freezing cold at night.”
For now, though, Rutherford said he plans to enjoy his final four months living abroad. While he admitted moving to a foreign country was difficult at first, the cultural experiences he’s had, and friends he’s made, have made it all worthwhile.
“Everybody has gotten really close because we’re all in the same situation,” he added. “We’ve all built some strong friendships.”