2011 Newtown Delegation Travels To Newtown’s Sister Schools

By Eliza Hallabeck

Newtown students, administrators, and faculty will be staying with host families and in hotel rooms in the Shandong Province of China over the next week while building the school district’s sister school relationships with three schools in that area.

The roughly 20 delegates departed from Bradley International Airport on Wednesday, April 13, for their 11-day journey.

As Newtown High School psychologist Tom Brant noted when Assistant Principal Jason Hiruo delivered pizza into the back room of the school’s library on Tuesday, April 12, it may be the last piece of food to resemble pizza the students will have in the next two weeks.

The Tuesday meeting was held as the last opportunity for the group to meet before traveling across the world together. Over the past couple of months the traveling students, faculty, and administrators have been meeting to learn more about Chinese culture and bond as a group.

Mr Hiruo, the program coordinator for Newtown’s China Initiative, spoke to the assembled group regarding some details concerning the trip and comfort any last-minute concerns.

“When we are there,” he said, “I will be checking in with every single host family.”

This is the first year Newtown is sending student ambassadors to visit the Shandong Province, where Newtown High School originally set up a partnership with Liaocheng Middle School #3. Now both Newtown Middle School and Reed Intermediate School will be sending delegates to visit other partner schools to further establish partnership schools.

Student ambassadors attending the delegation visit are Austin Baldour, Kate Bartel, Nicole Davis, Abbey Doski, Liam Ferguson, Marina Lleonart-Calvo, Hannah Maret, Don Morrissey, Justina Paproski, Madalyn Petrovich, Leah Pinckney, and Kevin Rovelli. Teacher delegates attending the trip are Mr Brant, NMS science teacher Wendy Bowen, NMS language arts teacher Cathy Cincogrono, Newtown High School English teacher Amanda Friedman, special education teacher Katherine Matz, Reed Intermediate School special education teacher Jeanne Pannone, NHS social studies teacher Martha Parvis, NHS Assistant Principal Jaime Rivera, NHS special education teacher Doug Russell, Reed music teacher Mardi Smith, Reed music teacher Michelle Tenenbaum, and Mr Hiruo.

As in past years, members of the delegation will be covering their own expenses.

During the delegates’ stay in China, each member will attend school and meet with sister school representatives to further the existing Newtown China Initiative, but other items are also on the groups’ itinerary, like visiting Qufu, pronounced Choo-Foo, the home of Confucius.

“We will definitely be very honored when we have the mayor of Qufu giving us a tour,” said Mr Hiruo to the delegation.

Mr Hiruo said anyone interested in checking in with the delegation during its stay in China, can monitor NHS Principal Charles Dumais’s blog, www.dumais.us/newtown/blog, for photo updates during the next week.