BRENTWOOD, Pa.; October 6, 2026 – “The exchange program changed the trajectory of my life. I knew I wanted to incorporate my German experience and the German language into my life.”
Victoria Healy, a 2013 Brentwood High School graduate, couldn’t have envisioned how participating in a German Exchange program with her younger sister, Olivia, in 2012 would have such a profound impact on her life 14 years later.
The impact of “The Friendship Connection,” program will come full circle this week when four members of the German family Victoria and Olivia stayed with for a month in June 2012 (plus two spouses and two young children) travel to Brentwood to attend Victoria’s wedding, which is Saturday, October 10.
Among the visitors from Kirchhian, Germany will be one of the exchange students - Hannah (Jarosch) Schick - who visited Brentwood in March 2012 and stayed in the Healy home for a month. Hannah’s younger sister, Paula (Jarosch) Kling, also will be traveling to Brentwood as the Jarosch sisters continue their strong friendship with the Healy family and continue a wedding tradition that began in 2023.
Three years ago, Victoria traveled to Germany for Paula’s wedding and last year she returned for Hannah’s wedding. From 2012 until the COVID-19 pandemic, she saw the Jarosch family every year, developing lasting friendships with Hannah, Paula and their parents.
Hannah, her husband Felix and young daughter Lotta arrived in Pittsburgh on October 3. Paula, her husband Felix and their young son are scheduled to arrive Tuesday (Oct. 6) and their parents, Reimund and Karin Jarosch arrive Thursday (Oct. 8) for the wedding.
“This will be first time in the U.S. for both husbands and their kids,” Victoria said. “We’re going to a Steelers game (Sunday vs. Colts). We’re planning to go to a pumpkin patch and carve some pumpkins and maybe go to the zoo.”
The Friendship Connection Sparks Multi-Cultural Experiences and Relationships
It was 15 years ago when participating in The Friendship Connection exchange program became a more realistic possibility as the Healy family moved into a Brentwood home that had an extra bedroom. A friend of older sister Lauren Healy ’11 had participated in the exchange program piquing the interest of Victoria and Olivia. All three Healy sisters were BHS Senior Class Presidents.
“A friend of Lauren’s had done the program,” Victoria recalled. “We convinced our parents (Jeff and Karen Healy) to let us do it.”
Cynthia Hebestreit was new in her role as the German teacher at Brentwood High School and assisted Victoria and Olivia with their preparations for participating in the exchange program. Ironically, Mrs. Hebestreit taught Olivia’s future husband, Alex Marshall, at Upper St. Clair High School.
“They embody the title of the program, “The Friendship Connection,” Hebestreit said of the Healy sisters. “The program has done so much for the students who’ve participated. It helps get kids interested in studying and speaking German.”
Hannah Jarosch and Olivia’s exchange student - Louisa Doenges – arrived in March 2012 and attended classes and school activities with Victoria and Olivia, who were nearing the of their junior and sophomore years at BHS, respectively.
“Louisa and I were very similar,” said Olivia. “It felt like we had known each other forever. They were excited to be here. When they left, we were the only exchange family that was crying at the airport.”
“It was the coolest thing; introducing them to America and our culture,” Victoria said. “We took them to Washington, D.C. and Niagara Falls. The main difference for them was the food. I remember they loved trying different varieties of Oreos!”
Two months later, it was Victoria and Olivia’s turn to travel. The Brentwood school year had ended, but students in Germany were still in school in June.
“It was the first time we had flown without our parents,” Victoria recalled. “We had a 14-hour delay in Atlanta. We flew to Frankfurt with 15 other exchange students.
“I was terrified at first,” she added. “We were 15 and 17 years old. It was so different. The language was super intimidating at first. But, it was so cool to be immersed in the culture and language.”
The sisters quickly realized their new friends had much more experience speaking English then they had speaking German.
“Germans start learning English when they’re five years old,” Victoria stated. “I started learning German in 8th grade, so I had been speaking the language for four years. Olivia also started in 8th grade (three years learning German).
The Healy sisters attended the same school in Germany but lived with different families about 20 minutes apart. “I think there were only three days when I didn’t see Hannah and Paula’s family when we were in Germany,” Olivia recalled.
“At their school, if they had a break, they could leave. They had a lot more freedom,” Victoria said. “We shadowed them in their classes.”
“In the middle of the school day, if you had a break you could go into town and get some ice cream,” Olivia recalled.
When Victoria arrived to the Jarosch home, they met the parents and Hannah’s younger sister, Paula, who was in 8th grade.
“She was super excited about having an American staying in their home,” Victoria said. “Hannah, Paula and I are great friends today.”
A Life-Changing and Lasting Experience
The three-month period when the students visited the other countries was a life-changing experience for Victoria and Olivia. “From 2012 until COVID-19, I traveled to Germany every year to see them,” Victoria commented.
After graduating from Brentwood in 2013, Victoria enrolled in Duquesne University. But, her growing friendship with the German students and spending time immersed in German culture brought about a big change.
“I transferred to Washington & Jefferson to major in International Business and German. I studied in Munich in 2016-17 and saw them a lot that year.”
After graduating from W&J in in 2018, Victoria received a Fulbright Scholarship and taught English to 1st-12th grade students in Nurenburg for one year (2018-19). She then began working for a German company (Lanxess) that had an office in Pittsburgh, which gave Victoria the opportunity to travel to Cologne, Germany for work and occasionally see her friends.
It also was in 2018 when Victoria and her future fiancee’, Jake Leyland, were in Germany at the same time, missing each other at Oktoberfest by one week.
It would be five more years before Victoria and Jake, a Latrobe native would meet. Once they did, they bonded over their experiences and love for Germany. Last year, Victoria and Jake got engaged, not surprisingly, at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.
Participating in the exchange program has opened up the world to Victoria and Olivia.
“It’s meant the world to me; it makes the world feel smaller,” said Olivia, who graduated from LaRoche University and is a graphic designer. “You have a best friend who is halfway across the world. Doing it with my sister made it even more special.
“It really opened me up to experiences I never would have had at such a young age. I went to Germany when I was 15 without my parents and then traveled there alone when I was 17. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to travel to other Cuba, China and Russia. I had life-changing experiences, and I would recommend the exchange program to anyone.”