With its 2025-26 fifth-grade student exchange complete, the Arlington Sister City Association is looking for those who would like to take part in the coming school year.
Fifty Arlington families recently returned from a spring break journey to Aachen, Germany, where they were hosted by families that had visited Arlington last fall.
The annual exchange has taken place for more than three decades, disrupted only by the Covid pandemic. The 2025-26 exchange had the largest cohort ever.
Arlington’s representation in the partnership this year included 17 public and four private schools. They were welcomed by students in 20 host schools across Aachen, located in western Germany near its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands.
A highlight of the trip was the formal welcome reception held in the Coronation Hall (Krönungssaal) of Aachen’s city hall.
With the 2025-26 exchange now complete, planning is ramping up for the coming school year. The application period for families of rising fifth-graders wishing to participate will run from May 15 to June 14.
Aachen Mayor Michael Ziemons welcomed the visitors, noting that while governments focus on complex issues like tariffs and taxes, youth are busy discussing their hopes and dreams. Ziemons, who was elected mayor last year, was among those visiting Arlington during the exchange program last fall.
Also welcoming the group to Aachen was Preeti Shah, the U.S. consul general for North Rhine-Westphalia. Shah, her husband Jaysen and their children Cyrus and Ayla live in Arlington when not posted around the world.
“A meeting between families from Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia and Arlington in the U.S. is especially dear to my heart,” she said at the event.
Shah also told students there were some things she and her family always enjoy when back home.
“If you ask any of us what we miss most, it’s probably the parks around Arlington Forest, taking our dog for a long walk to Good Company donuts in Ballston, and the feeling of community that we all love about Arlington,” she said.
Beyond official events, tours and school visits, “the heart of the [exchange] program was found in daily life: group dinners, family game nights, attending sports practices and even simple trips to the local grocery store,” Sister City Association officials said.
While the U.S. traces its roots back 250 years, the history of Aachen, Germany’s 27th largest city, goes back more than a millennium.
Its most famous historical moment occurred in the year 800, when Charlemagne — who by then directly or indirectly ruled over much of modern-day Europe — was crowned at the Aachen Cathedral. It began a coronation tradition that lasted more than 1,000 years.
Upon his death 14 years later, Charlemagne’s remains were interred at the cathedral, which still stands over the city and is the best preserved structure from that period in Europe.
For many of the families on the trip, visiting Charlemagne’s final resting place represented something of a family reunion. Virtually every person of European descent alive around the globe today is a direct descendant, according to historians.
Since 1950, Aachen also has been the setting of the annual Charlemagne Prize, bestowed on leaders for support of European unity. Americans who have received the honor include George C. Marshall (1959), Henry Kissinger (1987) and Bill Clinton (2000).
Arlington families will host their Aachen counterparts from Oct. 15-23, and will travel to Germany March 17-27, 2027.
In addition to Aachen, Arlington’s other Sister City relationships are with Reims, France; San Miguel, El Salvador; Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine; and (in “emeritus” status) Coyoacan, Mexico.
