The intention of Sacred Heart education is to address the whole person. You come as you are and are cared for with great love. The hope is to implant you a sacred love for yourself, to challenge you to be more honest, to lead you along the road of integrity.

- Life at the Sacred Heart

International Exchange

Each year, Woodlands welcomes between 20-30 exchange students to campus from Sacred Heart Schools around the world. Students stay with Woodlands families as well as in our boarding school and stay anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks. Get to know them!


The exchange program at Woodlands has opened my eyes to the interconnectedness of our world today. Going on exchange is an experience beyond words that has allowed me to learn, embrace, and share the different cultures of the world with my friends and family. It has also furthered my understanding of the challenges facing the world today and sparked a desire in me to take action and contribute to the solutions.
Mikayla '18

Being part of a worldwide network of schools with more than 150 schools on six continents offers unique opportunities for Sacred Heart students. They can apply to spend from two to four weeks attending another Sacred Heart school in Europe, Asia, North America, South America, or Australia, during the school year or the summer.

Students routinely consider their time as an exchange student as a transformative experience in their lives. Living with a host family from another Sacred Heart school allows them to experience life as a teenager in another country.

Woodlands Academy also welcomes annually more than 25 Sacred Heart students from all over the world. Woodlands students can serve as day hosts or night hosts, fostering international friendships that they take with them to college and beyond.

Sixty-five percent of Woodlands students take part in the exchange program either as day hosts, night hosts, or exchange students.

Go on Exchange

Our students have the opportunity to go on exchange around the world. It's not unusual for a family abroad to host one of our students in their home and then the family of that Woodlands student to host her "exchange sister" here in the States.