JHS GAPP was started in 1985 by JHS English teacher Pat Kennedy and German teacher JoAnn Nelson. Through their connection with teachers Marion Fischer and Karl Jongeling from Herzog-Ernst-Gymnasium (HEG) in Uelzen, Germany, and with the cooperation of acting JHS principal Mr. Young, the exchange program was born.

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The program succeeds with the involvement of JHS and HEG staff accompanied by JHS and HEG families. In the fall, the HEG sends 18 students (10th graders) and two of their teachers to Jacksonville for three weeks. During those three weeks, the German GAPP group stays with JHS families to experience American life. They observe classes at JHS and go on trips to experience what the mid-west has to offer. The group travels to the Springfield to visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, the Abraham Lincoln Tomb, the state capital, and the Dana Thomas House; Hannibal, Missouri to visit the Mark Twain Cave, Lover's Leap, and take a steamboat ride on the Mississippi River; Cahokia Mounds; St. Louis, Missouri to visit the Arch; and Chicago where they will spend a weekend experiencing all that the Windy City has to offer.

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The following summer two JHS teachers travel to Uelzen with a group of JHS students. In Uelzen JHS students will stay with HEG families to experience German life. They will also observe classes at the HEG and go on trips. Trips in Uelzen include Lüneburg, Lübeck, the Baltic Sea, Hamburg, and a weekend in Berlin.