International Visitors learn and share at local schools
NEWPORT, Ky. — For kids experiencing homelessness, life can be filled with uncertainty.
A new after-school program at Newport Intermediate School aims to replace that uncertainty with a sense of belonging.
The program is a partnership between Newport Independent Schools and UpSpring, the nonprofit formerly known as Faces Without Places that provides educational experiences for Greater Cincinnati children experiencing homelessness.
About a dozen kids in third, fourth and fifth grades are part of the weekly after-school program, which the students decided to name Club Diversity Wildcats.
WCPO photojournalist Emily Maxwell and I visited on Feb. 8 — the group’s third meeting since it launched on Jan. 25. It was a special day because international visitors were there with the Greater Cincinnati World Affairs Council. Students had prepared to interview the guests and record the interviews on iPads to show how schools in the U.S. use technology.
For the half dozen adults there through the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program, the time at Newport Intermediate was one of several stops during a packed agenda.
For the members of Club Diversity Wildcats, it was an opportunity to learn about different cultures, interact with adults and build skills they didn’t even know they had.
Consider 9-year-old Hevaunly.
For an hour, she was more than just a third-grader at Newport Intermediate. She was an interviewer, locking eyeballs with Narine Isakhanian, deputy director and computer science teacher at Moscow School in Russia.
Originally published on www.wcpo.com. Click here to continue reading or click on the video below!
Written by: Lucy May, Live Reporter, WCPO
On the other side of the river! The international visitors visited William Henry Harrison High School!
HARRISON, Ohio – Harrison High School’s push to integrate more technology into coursework has drawn admirers from six countries to see what they’re doing right.
The school’s robotics lab, biomedical lab and other high-tech offerings drew educators from India, the Palestinian Territories, Russia, South Africa, Trinidad & Tobago and Tunisia.
They spent Monday morning at the school as part of a U.S. State Department international leadership program designed to highlight best practices in schools across the country. Greater Cincinnati World Affairs Council Executive Director Michelle Harpenau said she directed the State Department to Harrison because of the school’s many hands-on high tech offerings.
Under the leadership of Principal Davis Baker, Harrison has aggressively expanded its tech offerings, with an emphasis on courses that carry college credit either through Ohio’s College Credit Plus program or through Advanced Placement courses.
The schools’ 16 AP courses are among the most offered by any Greater Cincinnati high school.
“We’re teaching our kids that college is the new high school,” Baker told the group.
Originally published on www.WCPO.com. Continue reading by clicking here!
Written by: Bob Driehaus, WCPO, Education Reporter
