PHOTO BY JENNIFER COLTON
On Monday, a special guest will stop by Clara Brownell Middle School in Umatilla.
He’s isn’t a celebrity and he won’t bring an entourage. He will, however, travel halfway around the world to meet the students and staff at Clara Brownell.
Jianguo Sun, vice principal of Changquing No. 2 Middle School in Xi’an City, will spend a week in Eastern Oregon as part of this year’s China Exchange Initiative Program. Mr. Sun has been paired with Clara Brownell Principal Dianna Veleke as part of the 2013-14 exchange.
“I applied for (the exchange) last spring because I believe any time we can get students exposed to a global economy, a global world, it’s a great thing,” she said. “That’s one of the things we really work for.”
This is the second time Oregon has participated in the exchange program. Nine Oregon educators have joined this year, including Veleke. A last-minute substitution brought another local face to the program – Jon Mishra, Hermiston School District director of operations/business.
“I found out about the opportunity the second week of October when I was at a conference in Portland,” Mishra said. “The trip organizer, Colin Cameron from COSA asked if I would be interested in going since they had a participant withdraw. He had spoken with (Superintendent) Dr. (Fred) Maiocco previously and knew Hermiston was interested. This is a great opportunity to learn about the Chinese culture and serve as an ambassador for the Hermiston School District.”
The late notice has not been a challenge, Mishra said, because the Hermiston School District has been supportive and Veleke helped locate a host family for his exchange partner to stay with this month when he visits Oregon.
“Things just fell into place,” Mishra said.
For the past month, Mishra has been e-mailing his counterpart, Aiping Lan, principal of Yan’an Senior High School in Yan’an City, and developing a schedule of activities for Mr. Lan to participate here in Oregon.
To prepare for her trip, Veleke has been attending a school in the Tri-Cities on Sundays to learn the Chinese culture and language. She and Sun have communicated over e-mail – in both English and Chinese – and both have studied the differences between the educational systems of each country.
“It’s very exciting that there’s an openness to learn,” Veleke said. “He’ll see something very different, and I’ll see something very different. As an example, the kids don’t move from class to class (in China) – the teachers do. The teachers are considered a guest in the classroom.”
To prepare Umatilla for Sun’s arrival, Veleke has put together regular reports for staff and provided news articles for students every morning during breakfast. The students can choose from three articles a week to read on subjects ranging from pandas to sports. Students have also studied ancient and modern China in their social studies classes.
“Sharing all different aspects of the partnership with the kids is exciting,” Veleke said.
While in Umatilla, Sun will visit all three schools and make special stops in the STEM and robotics programs and science labs. District staff will also introduce him to the district’s new preschool as well as special education programs.
“They do not educate children with disabilities like we do, so he’ll be able to see some teachers who do incredible things with our disabled students so they can have a better quality of life and as much education as possible,” Veleke said.
Sun will also talk to teachers in Umatilla, attend an area-wide principals meeting in Pendleton and visit state tourist sites.
“Just driving around here in Eastern Oregon will be a novel experience for him,” Veleke said. “He’s from a very congested area – congested with traffic and with people and high-rises. He’ll see a lot of open spaces while he’s here.”
The experience, however, will not stop at the end of the week when Sun returns to China. Veleke will continue to provide information about China to her school in preparation the second half of the exchange when Veleke travels to Sun’s school in China during March and April.
She said she plans to maintain a travel blog and keep students informed of where she is and what she is learning.
“I told (the students) I will Skype with them while I’m over there,” Veleke said. “I want there to be as much fervor and excitement by the time I go over so we can take something forward.”
Mishra will travel to China for two weeks as well.
“I am looking forward to learning as much about China as I can and establishing a durable partnership with my exchange administrator Mr. Lan,” he said. “This is a wonderful opportunity. I appreciate all of the support and look forward to sharing when I get back.”
