Schools learn across borders

A partnership with a school in Mexico will soon broaden the horizons of local students.

Carrboro High School, along with seven other schools in Chatham, Durham, Orange and Wake counties, was selected by the Center for International Understanding at UNC to collaborate with schools in Guanajuato, Mexico.

“It is still in its infant stages so we haven’t developed the projects the students will be doing, but I couldn’t imagine people wouldn’t be excited,” said Carrboro High School Spanish teacher L.J. Randolph, who is also the director of the Academy of International Studies at the school.

“We’re looking forward to it, and I hope the students will be too.”

Students from Carrboro High and a partner school in Mexico will collaborate with one another through video conferencing and online communication.

The exact projects and activities will be planned once Carrboro High chooses its partner school.

Carrboro High principal Colin Batten and Randolph said they will tour schools in Mexico from Nov. 5 to Nov. 12. The program is sending one teacher and one administrator from every school involved, along with members from the center, to Mexico to learn about the culture.

“We are hoping to develop a partnership with the school,” Randolph said. “And I’ll work with a few teachers from the school to form some kind of conferencing program.”

Randolph said the partnership activities will incorporate the theme of movement, as portrayed by people, goods and animals between the two countries.

Matt Friedrick, the center’s director of K-12 global education programs, said the program offers students the ability to better understand other cultures.

“Our job is to develop global skills in both current and future leaders in North Carolina,” he said.

Randolph said Carrboro High’s Spanish classes are most likely to participate.

More than 70 percent of the student body is enrolled in a world language course with the majority taking Spanish, Batten said.

“This partnership made sense for us,” Batten said. “The center knew they wanted schools from this Triangle area, and so one of the attractive features for Carrboro High School was the Academy of International Studies.”

The academy offers Carrboro students the opportunity to take electives like global cultures and comparative religion.

Randolph said the overall opportunity will benefit students by helping them gain real world experience and useful global skills.

“Whatever topic we decide on,” he said, “students will be able to examine that topic through the lens of people in a different culture.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.