School Board Hears Updates On International Programs

By Eliza Hallabeck

Newtown High School Assistant Principal Jason Hiruo appeared before the Board of Education during its meeting on Tuesday, July 10, to update the board on the district’s Newtown International Center of Education (NICE).

Since Mr Hiruo last spoke before the school board in March, he said there have been some additions to the program, like a recently finalized partner school relationship with a school in Le Vésinet, France.

“We formalized our sister school partnership in France, and we formalized our sister school partnership in Japan,” said Mr Hiruo, adding it is an exciting time for the program.

Discussion is also developing between NICE and the Ministries of Education in Spain and Italy, according to Mr Hiruo.

“We anticipate that we might actually begin formalizing a partnership with these two countries by November,” said Mr Hiruo.

Project teams of teacher in the World Language Department will manage the relationships with Spain and Italy, according to Mr Hiruo.

Mr Hiruo said 25 students have already been chosen to visit China over the school’s April break as part of a continuing partner school relationship, and 75 students have applied to be chosen to visit France with NICE’s France Project Team, also over the 2012-13 school year’s April vacation.

Roughly $1,000 has also been donated to the program since March, with help from the NICE Parent Community Organization (NICE PCO), Mr Hiruo said, to help fund scholarships for students looking to travel abroad with NICE. The expense for the trips are otherwise covered by the students’ families.

Mr Hiruo also said the NICE PCO received 501(c)(3) status recently, and can now accept donations toward scholarships.

This year was also the first time students stayed for an extended period of time with one of Newtown’s sister schools in Laiocheng, in the Shandong Province of China. NHS science teacher Tim DeJulio and students Kyra Middeleer and David Swigart stayed beyond the delegation’s scheduled April vacation visit and returned in May.

“This year, in looking back, we offered 15 learning workshops to the community and district,” said Mr Hiruo. “This was part of our film festival, the language and writing workshops, we did origami, [and] we brought in Wesleyan University. So there were a number of workshops, and we are looking to actually increase this year by five more.”

NICE, Mr Hiruo said, is seeking host families for a guest teacher who will teach at Newtown High School this school year. Anyone interested is being a host family should contact Mr Hiruo at hiruoj@newtown.k12.ct.us or Paula Greenfield at greenfieldp@newtown.k12.ct.us. Host families, Mr Hiruo has said in the past, receive a stipend, and are also given support from NICE.

Since the NICE program’s inception, according to the group, more than 100 students have traveled abroad, some 100 families have welcomed international delegates into their homes, and 200-plus educators have participated in the NICE program through development workshops, hosting dignitaries, traveling overseas to teach and learn, and more.

During the presentation before the school board, Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson and Mr Hiruo specified that traveling teachers cover their own costs to visit sister schools.

“And recently,” Mr Hiruo continued, explaining some of the aspects of NICE for the school board, “we were contacted by the State Department and recognized as a supportive resource for the state as a liaison for visiting dignitaries that are coming to Connecticut. So yesterday, we hosted a delegation from Changchun.”

 A ‘NICE Day’ For

Visitors

According to Mr Hiruo, international baccalaureate students from the high school attached to Northeast Normal University visited with Newtown student ambassadors and teachers on Monday, July 9. The state’s Department of Education contacted the NICE program for the opportunity to welcome the visiting delegation of 20 students and two educators to Connecticut as they toured the West and East Coasts.

The delegation, from the City of Changchun of the Jilin Province in China, spent the day with Newtown students and teachers as they toured schools, spoke about a day in the life of a student, enjoyed lunch at the Blue Colony Diner, took a leisurely tour of historic Main Street, and ended their day with ice cream before setting off to tour the Harvard campus in Boston the next day, he said.

During the visit students shared similarities in the college application process, after-school clubs, homework, study sessions, and which summer movies they would enjoy best, according to Mr Hiruo.

“It’s amazing how similar we are. I never would have realized all of the things we have in common without getting the chance to spend time with them. It was a great day,” said NHS senior Neil Davis.

As part of their international baccalaureate program, the students learn about educational systems throughout the world. Newtown and its international program were selected as having the greatest capacity and experience in working with international delegates, according to Mr Hiruo.

NICE has also been selected to welcome to teams of visiting education dignitaries from Switzerland and England this summer, Mr Hiruo said at the meeting on Tuesday.