Over the district’s April vacation, three delegations through the Newtown International Center for Education (NICE) visited three different countries: Spain, France, and China.

Members of the delegations recently reflected on those trips and on hosting delegates who visited Newtown during three separate times between February and the start of April.

The first visiting delegates to Newtown came from Liaocheng, in the Shandong Province of China, and visited between February 23 and March 4. The Spanish delegation from I.E.S. Las Encinas School visited from March 15 to March 23, and the French delegation from Lycée Alain, Newtown’s sister school in France, visited from March 25 until April 1.

Newtown’s delegation to China visited from April 8 to April 18 and 11 student delegates, two chaperones, and one administrator. The delegation to France traveled April 8 to April 15, and 18 students and three chaperones represented Newtown on that trip. The delegation visiting Spain traveled from April 8 to April 17 and 21 students with two teachers traveled to the country.

During all of the trips delegation members stayed with host families, toured sister schools, and experienced different aspects of the cultures they were visiting. 

Visiting Spain

“It was amazing,” said NICE Program Manager and its Europe and Spain Project Co-Manager Liz Ward-Toller, who was one of the trip’s chaperones.

Ms Ward-Toller said the teachers in Spain were impressed by the “high caliber” students that made up Newtown’s Spain delegation.

Visiting Spain, Ms Ward-Toller said, was an amazing immersive educational experience for the students.

NHS junior Julia Faxon said recently that traveling to Spain taught her that although the Newtown and Spain students are different, it was still easy to make friends.

Junior Lindsay Hoyt said she learned to accept different cultures and to learn about those cultures, while junior Cameron Vazquez said Spain was beautiful, and noted  her trip with NICE was her first time traveling outside of the United States.

The largest thing Cameron said she noticed from visiting Spain were the differences between cultures in Spain and in America.

 

Visiting France

Junior Robin Rockwell said she wanted to go to France to see what it was like to “be immersed in a culture.”

“It was quite an experience and I felt really free there,” Robin said, adding that she felt her host family trusted her to venture out on her own with her friends. Otherwise, Robin said, she and her host family “did everything together. We ate together and they were really nice. We played [French] Uno together.”

Adam Padilla, a junior, said the delegates visited Paris during the first day in France.

“The first thing we saw was the Eiffel Tower,” Adam said, adding that the group also drove around the Arc de Triomphe and saw other sights.

Both Robin and Adam remarked on the differences they noticed between attending school in France and in the United States. French school lunches were different, with kiwi available “everywhere,” and classes were more regimented, according to both Robin and Adam.

Another difference Adam noted about the culture in general was students his age were trusted with more freedoms and they handled those responsibly. Robin agreed.

Visiting China

For Andrey Masser, a junior who said he has traveled to a number of countries before his first trip with NICE to China, seeing how families in Liaocheng lived was an interesting experience.

Madison Fusaro, a sophomore, said she found the architecture interesting, specifically the archecture at the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. Visiting classrooms in Liaocheng was also “interesting,” Madison said.

After studying Chinese and hearing her father’s traveling stories, sophomore Monique Dubois said she decided she wanted to travel to China with NICE. The biggest thing Monique said she took away from the trip was how different the teaching style is in China.

“I never realized how different their schooling was from ours,” Monique said. 

Sophomore Riley Smith also noted the differences in the classroom experience between China and the United States. “I didn’t know how it would be different, but the amount of students and the teaching styles were really what made it so different,” said Riley.

When she first saw Beijing, Riley said she didn’t think the trip could get better, but it did.

Junior Will Roman said he wanted to travel to China with NICE because he thought it would be a great experience and he never would have traveled to China with family or friends otherwise.

“I’m glad I went with the school, because they really know what they are doing,” said Will.

Will also said his host family took “great” care of him, and he also found attending school in China to be “different.”

“I thought overall it was a great trip,” said Will. “I learned a lot. It was a great experience. I really connected with the school and with the classmates that I went with. And the chaperones were wonderful.”

Also reflecting on the trip to China, sophomore Liam Garrison said he wanted to travel with NICE because he had never been outside of the country before.

“The biggest thing I learned,” said Liam, “is not everyone has the same social structure as the [United States]. In China the way they do things is so much different, but it also works. The people there are different, but they are also happy. They have the same emotions and all that, but the way they do everything is very different. I thought that was really interesting.”

Going on the trip with his fellow NICE delegates, Liam said, was “one of the most important and greatest experiences of my life.”

This year’s delegation trip was NHS Assistant Principal Jaime Rivera’s second trip with NICE.

Like a number of the student delegates, Mr Rivera noted the sense of closeness that developed in the group during the visit to China.

“When you go overseas, you trust each other with everything that you do,” said Mr Rivera, “whether it is a recommendation for food, a place you are going to visit, or just the fact that somebody is there to help you, and for safety purposes, too. They all did great. I am very proud of them.”

Newtown’s sister school relationship with Liaocheng has been ongoing for a number of years, and Mr Rivera said a number of students and teachers that greeted the Newtown delegates to China were familiar faces. A number of greeters were also wearing Newtown T-shirts, according to Mr Rivera.

Newtown Police Department School Resource Officer Liam Seabrook said going on the trip gave him an opportunity to forge different relationships with the students than he normally would during an eight-hour school day.

“From a police officer perspective, I think it is important to try to humanize police officers,” said Officer Seabrook, adding, “and I think that we kind of built a relationship over the ten days.”

Those relationships, Officer Seabrook said, are important to form for the community.

According to Tim DeJulio, NICE program development, Asia project manager, Liaocheng study tour leader, and NICE Club co-advisor, who did not travel to China with the group this year, this was the first time a Newtown police officer has traveled with a NICE delegation to China.

Hosting Delegates

In Newtown

Mr DeJulio said the delegates visiting Newtown from China, Spain, and France spent more time in the school than visiting delegation groups have in the past due to the weather.

The French student delegates attended the high school’s junior prom for the first time this year, as that visit coincided with the annual dance.

“The French students had a great time, because they don’t have that experience,” said Mr DeJulio. “That’s not a typical thing they have, so that was something they were very excited about.”

He said students he spoke to following the event were excited to have had that “quintessential American” experience.

For all three of the visiting delegations to Newtown, Mr DeJulio spoke about witnessing people making connections, which has also happened in the past years of the program, and some of those connections continue to this day, according to Mr DeJulio.

Having delegates visit NHS, Mr DeJulio noted, also offers an experience for the entire school community.

This year was also the first time a delegation visited Henry Abbot Technical High School in Danbury. Chinese delegation members, according to Mr Rivera, enjoyed visiting the different setting than NHS and seeing the technical high school setting.

“It’s something they are looking forward to in the future, going there and probably spending a day,” said Mr Rivera. “They want to bring teachers so they can see that.”

According to Mr Rivera, the visit to Henry Abbot Technical High School included a presentation, guided tours, and demonstrations of the programs at the school.

While visiting Newtown, the three delegations’ members stayed with host families.

Madison’s family hosted delegation members for the third year in a row, and some of the things Madison said her family did with visiting delegates from China included sledding.

“What I learned when they were here is how sheltered in they are. When they come here, the second girl I hosted, she said her teachers told them not to ask us very personal questions,” said Madison. “What they have done is just so different than what we are used to. When we take them out for dinner they don’t know what Mexican food is or stuff like that.”

Monique’s family hosted a Chinese delegate for the first time this year.

“We took her to the circus, which she really liked,” said Madison, adding that their delegate loved small things too, like going to the grocery store.

Mr Rivera thanked the Newtown community for supporting the NICE program.

“And especially because now we have three partnerships — Spain, France, and China — and the community has helped us a lot to make this a success. It’s not just the school, it’s not just the students, it is the parents that are helping out,” Mr Rivera. “Ultimately that is what we want. It is not just a school partnership, it is a community to community [partnership].”

NICE Parent and Community Organization (NICE PCO) President Lisa Berger also reflected on NICE’s recent delegation efforts this week.

“I would like to thank all of the staff, teachers, administrators, and parents that have worked so hard this year to give our students this incredible opportunity to make new friends, learn about other cultures, and prepare them for their global world. With a special thanks to Tim DeJulio, Liz Ward, Jen Davidson, Paula Greenfield, and Cara Fedak for [their] incredible dedication in making the NICE program what is today. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with all of you,” said Ms Berger.

According to Ms Berger, the NICE program is run by many volunteers and anyone interested in getting involved can contact Tim DeJulio at dejuliot@newtown.k12.ct.us.