By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published May 10, 2003
[Times photos: Skip O'Rourke]
Chance Carrick, 13, and Rudi Rodriguez, 12, work on a map of China at Randall Middle School in Lithia.
Brendan McNamara, 12, writes a story in Chinese.
Sixth-grader Emily Worthen, 12, uses origami to shape a piece of paper into a crane.
In a hallway at Hillsborough County's Randall Middle School, dozens of multicolored Chinese lanterns fashioned from construction paper dangle from the ceiling.
Between rows of eggplant-purple lockers, a wall is reinvented in red: It's now "The Great Wall of China," where students post sketches of egg rolls and tack up trivia tidbits.
"In China," one student writes, "cranes are considered good luck."
As the rest of the world avoids China, hot zone for the respiratory virus SARS, Randall Middle in Lithia and Jefferson High in Tampa are embracing the country of 1.3-billion.
With the help of a University of Florida professor and a Massachusetts group that fosters long-term relationships between U.S. and Chinese schools, Randall and Jefferson have set up an educational exchange program intended as a model for the rest of the district and even the state.
"In China, the political, the religious climates - every bit of it's exciting," said Caryl Menendez, the assistant principal overseeing Jefferson's international studies program.
Teachers from both schools recently postponed a trip to China because of SARS, which has killed more than 200 mainland Chinese and infected some 5,000 since November. But the Hillsborough educators, confident that Chinese officials will gain control of SARS' spread, want to take their two-week introductory visit next spring. They're hopeful that students can make their first journey as early as next summer and plan to spend the next year raising money and seeking grants to cover travel costs - $3,000 to $4,000 per person.
The schools' fledgling effort is believed to be the first of its kind in Florida.
Other schools have sent students to China for a semester of study. But organizers say this project is unique because it aims to establish a districtwide curriculum and a longrunning relationship with schools in China, a major U.S. trading partner and international political player.
"The idea is that the friendship between the two schools will last over many years," said Carolyn Henderson, co-founder of the China Exchange Initiative, which fosters exchanges between U.S. and Chinese schools. Henderson helped found a two-decade exchange between a Beijing school and schools in Newton, a Boston suburb.
"The school on the other side becomes home," Henderson said. "This is an experience you can never have as a tourist."
Hillsborough elementary and middle school students will get an in-depth look at China through classroom studies that cover everything from the language and social traditions to its Communist government.
By the time students reach high school, they're ready to attend a sister school in China.
Chinese students and teachers will do the same, staying with Hillsborough families as part of a learning experience that introduces them to proms, American history, standardized tests and homecoming week.
Ultimately, district organizers would like to see the pilot program expanded to grades K-12 throughout Hillsborough, and not just in classes like history and social studies. Art teachers could do a lesson in drawing Chinese dragons; health teachers could discuss the Chinese diet.
"It's kind of cool, because we get to see what the Chinese people do on the other side of the world," said Randall sixth-grader Matt Armistead, 12. "We could learn the language and everything."
Matt and his classmates won't be able to visit any time soon. Travel to China is discouraged, and thousands of residents are under quarantine as medical experts struggle to contain and understand SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
Worldwide, officials from more than two dozen countries have reported about 6,200 SARS cases and nearly 450 deaths. No one has died from SARS in the United States.
District administrators are optimistic that the Chinese government and medical community can bring SARS under control.
"We are definitely still pursuing this, because we think it has a lot of promise," said assistant superintendent Gwen Luney, who is helping the schools pursue grants to cover travel costs. "But there are variables we can't control, and right now that variable is a health threat."
Randall social studies teacher Anne Justice initiated the exchange program after taking a UF seminar on East Asia last year. From professor Michael Tsin, Justice learned about the China Exchange Initiative.
This is the first Florida school to be involved with the Exchange Initiative, which is sponsored by the Freeman Foundation, a nonprofit group committed to the inclusion of Asian studies in U.S. classrooms.
Henderson said most students who participate in the exchange are now working in fields with some connection to Asia or international affairs. A student who studied in China for a semester in 1986 is a law professor at Columbia, specializing in international law, Henderson said.
Jefferson and Randall are hoping for similar success. They even hope to offer Chinese language classes.
"The earlier they start, the more immersed they become in the culture and the more interested they are - to the point of being bicultural and tricultural," said UF's Tsin. "We could use a lot more people like that, frankly. Because the rest of the world knows a lot more about us than we know about them."
- Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at (813) 661-2443 or svansickler@sptimes.com
