This past week eight students and
five teachers visited our school from The Hebei International School two hours
south of Beijing in the Peoples Republic of China. During their stay our guests took
part in a whorl-wind of activities. This trip was short, but extremely sweet.
Their visit was part of a three legged trip to Cleveland, Ohio, our
school, and the San Francisco Area Community College.
On day one I picked up our guests
from JFK and ferried them over to the AIC parking lot to meet their host
families. Our host families did an amazing job of welcoming these travel weary
guests with Pennsylvania hospitality. The next day,
President’s Day, our 13 guests and 14 PALCS students and parents joined together
to tour New York City. We visited, The Today Show, Rockefeller Center,
The South Street Seaport Complex, Central Park, 5th Avenue, Times Square, NYU, and the 9-11 memorial site.
On Tuesday we visited West Chester University. Our Students audited 3 classes
and met 5 University professors who are interested in developing a deeper
relationship with PALCS and our sister school in Hebei, China. On Wednesday our students
shadowed students at the Advanced Ideas Center for the day. At days end we did
some team building activities, had an online English Class, and interacted in a
ping pong tournament between the Americans and Chinese. The Chinese won this
time, but we all enjoyed the spirit of cooperation over competition with our
Asian friends. On Thursday our visitors participated in an awards ceremony with
Dr. Hanak. We were able to honor each of the delegation with a certificate of
participation. We even gave the Vice Principal a copy of the US Constitution to take back with them.
Later that day we went down to see the sites of Philadelphia and had
dinner in Chinatown.
That evening our visitors were able to see a play at our Center for Performing
and Fine Arts. We left for JFK in the middle of the night for the last leg of
their journey to San Francisco.
I would like to thank the following
staff who contributed greatly to this exchange. Dr. Hanak, Eileen Bowers,
Carolyn Fell, Patty Tully, Susan Giordani, Nona Neidert, David Juliano, and Anne
DiSciullo. Without the help of the following host families this trip would have
been impossible. Lori Kier, Ellen Baxter, Nona Niedert, Alice Lee, Lynn Parris,
Marge Wilcox, Melissa Bolz, Helen Balmer, Karen Chamberlain, Amy Hofbauer and
Anne DiSciullo. We look forward to improving on this trip next year. Our team of
nine PALCS members will be reciprocating this visit March 25th –
April 8th this year. I am sure we will enjoy the same hospitality
that our community gave last week to our guests.
"Go to the people. Learn from them. Live
with them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. The best of
leaders when the job is done, when the task is accomplished, the people will say
we have done it ourselves."
Lao Tzu
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