For 15 days last month, Roslyn Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dan Brenner traded in his tie and desk for a pair of shorts and a view of the Great Wall of China.
Brenner was joined by Roslyn High School guidance director Art Mandel and social studies teacher Michelle Mahepath in accompanying 12 Roslyn High School students who participated in the district’s first foreign exchange program with Beijing No. 80 High School.
From July 14-29, the group stayed at the school’s dormitories, studying conversational Mandarin in addition to Chinese culture and customs, which they used when they went out and explored the country.
“I never wore long pants and wore shorts for 15 days, and I got to play high school principal, camp counselor, friend and tour guide,” said Brenner. “What a wonderful experience that was.”
Upon returning, Brenner, Mahepath and the students shared their experiences abroad at Thursday’s board of education meeting, telling their tales of climbing the 5,164 steps of the Great Wall without stopping and indulging in China’s finest scorpion cuisine.
The students spent four hours each day in a classroom alongside Chinese students and maintained blogs detailing their experiences. While in Beijing, the group toured the National Museum of China, Tiananmen Square and the ancient palace known as the Forbidden City.
Beijing No. 80 High School has approximately 3,000 students and 300 cultural exchange students from 20 countries and regions, according to the school’s Web site.
Mahepath said the most important aspect of the trip was the relationships the students formed that may not have been made within the walls of Roslyn High School.
“As a teacher, the most important part of this trip is what the kids learned about themselves and about one another,” Mahepath said. “I learned I could wear the same clothes for a few days at a time, and I learned that I’m one of the luckiest people on the planet. I’m in a great place here at Roslyn and love what I do, and I want to do it until the end.”
Brenner said many students on the trip told him they would be interested in spending an entire semester in China as part of their senior project, adding that the district has been exploring ways of growing the program into a full cultural exchange program to take place during the school year. The students will spend the next year speaking to classes throughout the Roslyn School District to attract future interest in the program.
“The thing about something like this is an initiative is not about an individual person, it’s about a program that allows itself to sustain when people who start it aren’t doing it anymore. So what we’re trying to do is build that capacity among our adults so that I don’t have to go to china every year for 15 days. I don’t think my wife would like that very much. But others will be able to carry the torch for what is a meaningful program,” Brenner said.