By Barbara McCormick, Principal for Academic Affairs

Day five was filled with the Chinese cultural experience of shopping at the Chinese Market in Tainjin and a trip to the Silk Market in Beijing. I am posing with a Chinese artist as he eloquently draws the Chinese characters for health, happiness, and harmony on a scroll. He had great concentration as he steadied the brush for gentle sweeping strokes thus creating the many lines of each character.  The Chinese Market was an outdoor shopping experience that allowed visitors to walk along a cobble stone path with souvenir shops tightly framed back to back. Our tour guides assisted us in bargaining for our merchandise. Pictured in this blog is Lucia, one of our Chinese guides that works for the Hanban/Confucius Institute. We are standing in the hall of Hanban Headquarters where we had the opportunity to explore the experimental center. Below I am wearing a Chinese dress which is just one of the many cultural stations students and adults can explore when visiting the headquarters. Lucia was very much like a mother to us all. Her job entailed scheduling our site visits, organizing busses and hotels, planning meals, and making sure all the American delegates arrived safely at scheduled locations during the entire trip. It was a pleasure getting to know her and her colleagues throughout the visit. During our final school visits on Day six we ventured to The Luhe High School in Beijing. Here we met a very talented young man who was given his own studio for displaying his craft. Below you see a photo of his artworks which are created with his own two hands, red paper, and a pair of scissors or small knife. He shared with us that he had been learning to paper cut since he was four years of age. As a Senior 3 student he plans to attend Beijing Art Institute to continue his education and perfect his skill. Delegates asked about purchasing his artwork but learned that he does not sell his pieces. The young man only gives them as gifts. The Luhe High School provides an education to 4000 students with many living in dormitories. The school was built in 1867 and has the appearance of a college campus with tree lined walk ways and a nearby small lake. Everyday students exercise on the sporting facilities by lining up according to grade level then following the leaders while listening to music selected by the government. Our final day ended with a banquet at the Beijing Royal School where we were greeted as if we were celebrities. Students lined the entrance of the school clapping and cheering as the 400 delegates entered the grounds. This is a private school that accepts only the students earning high marks in their Key or Common Schools. The Beijing Royal School has a partnership with Cambridge University, UK and The College Board, US allowing them to offer advanced placement courses and other programs towards preparing students for elite universities. All students in China learn English and Chinese at a very early age; however, at the Beijing Royal School students have the opportunity to learn AP courses in English while maintaining their Chinese language and heritage. A final picture is enclosed of Cristina, our student host at the banquet. She spoke excellent English and kept us informed of the message behind the performances we witnessed as well as what food was being served. It was a celebration of our two countries coming together to share in the education of today’s youth for tomorrow’s world. I made many friends both in China and across the US while on this journey. Relationships and partnerships are key to us all forming global citizens that will respect one another as our two worlds become more interdependent than they ever have in previous generations. I’ll end my blog with the Beijing Royal School Principal Wang Guangfa’s  words, ” Students must set ambitious goals, shoulder their responsibilities as global citizens, possess a global perspective, and care about social issues, so that they may become valuable contributors to the world and backbones of society!” As a school leader and community it is our duty to provide students the opportunities necessary for them to reach their full potential as global citizens. I invite you to join me on this journey.

I wish to thank Nan Bone and the school for allowing me the opportunity to travel abroad during the school year. I am also grateful to the Hanban/Confucius Institute who made this trip possible. This was truly a life changing experience for me.

Thank you,
Barbara McCormick