This one goes out to all the parents!
After over a year of preparation, there is now a little more than 24 hours before 28 students from T.F. North and T.F. South board a plane for an immersion experience in Heredia, Costa Rica. An experience like this is impossible without support from parents. The district 215 parents of the 28 students headed to Costa Rica have been the most supportive parents imaginable. They have attended meetings, participated in fund raising events, attended more meetings, financially funded the adventure, purchased suitcases, gotten passports, exchanged US dollares into colones, made packing lists, done research on Costa Rica and international travel, made doctor appointments, brainstormed host family gifts, spoken to cell phone providers about international plans, talked to banks about international travel clearance on debit cards, purchased travel necesities, and spoken with their son or daugher about the opportunity and given them encouragement, trust, and support, perhaps even in the face of their own worry and fear. Thank you, parents, for your dedication, endurance, and support over the past year. Without you, this program would not be happening.
It has been an honor for me to prepare for this experience with these students and their families. Entering into a different country with a culture and language distinct from your own, with traditions, expectations, and norms different fom your own with a desire to learn, to listen, to observer, a willingness to be open to and humbled by other perspectives, and a readiness to step into the unfamiliar and possibly uncomfortable is not easy. Our Costa Rica bound students have decided that the discomfort of language barriers and cultural differences and misunderstandings is worth the opportunity to embrace and be embraced by the city of Heredia, Costa Rica and its people. I am proud to work in a district with students and families who want this, and I am excited to see how these students grow through their relationships with host families, conversations in Spanish, and participation in another culture.
- Hannah Berridge (Spanish teacher)
It has been an honor for me to prepare for this experience with these students and their families. Entering into a different country with a culture and language distinct from your own, with traditions, expectations, and norms different fom your own with a desire to learn, to listen, to observer, a willingness to be open to and humbled by other perspectives, and a readiness to step into the unfamiliar and possibly uncomfortable is not easy. Our Costa Rica bound students have decided that the discomfort of language barriers and cultural differences and misunderstandings is worth the opportunity to embrace and be embraced by the city of Heredia, Costa Rica and its people. I am proud to work in a district with students and families who want this, and I am excited to see how these students grow through their relationships with host families, conversations in Spanish, and participation in another culture.
- Hannah Berridge (Spanish teacher)
No...thank YOU for teaching and caring for our children!! Without you taking time out of your lives to give them this experience, it wouldn’t be possible!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nicole....thank you Hannah and the other staff members that have put in so much time in order to give our children and unbelievable learning experience!!!!!
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