Language programs form long-lasting bonds

But perhaps the best benefit is the friendships students make while in the programs. The dynamic of immersion classrooms is different from other classes since elementary school students remain with the same group of kids every year and eventually share an unbreakable bond.

Tara McClusky, a sophomore in the Japanese program at Dimond High School, says, "When you make friends in the Japanese immersion program, you will have at least one class for sure with them every year. (It's) not like in regular classes where you make a good friend and you don't have classes together the next year so you drift apart as friends."

The bonds start in elementary school. There are the immersion class kids and the "regular" class kids. Although encouraged by teachers to mix, the two classes often stay apart. For seven years (kindergarten through sixth grade), these students have classes only with each other. Once in middle school, they may share only one or two classes with other immersion students, but by then the bond has already formed.

Tegan McGrath, a senior in the Spanish program at West High, says, "We help each other through hard times (both in and out of school), we share inside jokes and we always stand up for one another."

Everybody seems to consider their classmates as another family.

"You don't hate your Uncle Leo because his feet smell. You just learn to get used to it, and you live with it," says Taylor Appelo, a senior at West and a member of the Spanish immersion program.

"On the other hand, you can tell Uncle Leo that you hate his guts since you know you'll be able to make up for it the next day. I guess I've always felt like the group has its own quirks, and whether you enjoy these quirks or find them annoying is irrelevant. I know I'm not the only one when I say I'd jump in front of a bus for a member of 'the group,' just like I would for my little brother," Appelo says.

There is a downside, though.

"Since we've been together forever, we remember what we were all like when we were little -- all the embarrassing things from our childhoods," says Hana Ah You, a sophomore at Dimond and a Japanese immersion student for more than years.

Although everybody knows all the embarrassing stuff, this means they can just be themselves. Chelsea Thompson, a senior at West and a student in the Spanish immersion program, reestablishes this fact.

"Everyday that I have Spanish class, no matter how boring it is or how evil the teacher is, I always look forward to going to it just to see all my friends. It's a group of people that I can always be myself around no matter what because they have known me long enough to know the real me," Thompson says.

It all comes back to being a big family; this classroom dynamic is really special to all the immersion students. As McGrath says, "We're family, and we stick together so that we all have something to count on."

Lauren Suiter is a sophomore at Dimond High.

FOR PHOTOS of this class through the years, check Perfect World's blog, www.adn.com/underagethinking. See this class grow up right before your eyes!