Category: Students

3rd Annual Global Issues Network Conference at RHS

25/4/2016

Posted by Erik Remsen
On Thursday, April 7th, Rutland High School held its 3rd Annual Global Issues Network Conference. The purpose of the day was to inform students about global issues and inspire them to take action. Our keynote speaker this year was Zach Ingrasci (pictured above), the executive director and co-founder of Living on One, a production and social impact studio. Their most recent film, Salam Neighbor, chronicles Syrians living in a refugee camp in Jordan and was screened before a large crowd of students, faculty, and community members at the Paramount Theater that evening.

Posted below are a few pictures from the day that showcase student leadership in organizing and facilitating the conference as well as the myriad ways students grappled with and began to make sense of the various pressing global issues. More information about the conference can be found at the website and in future blog posts. Stay tuned.

All photos courtesy of Brandon Levesque

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Experiencing the Italian Alps

23/2/2016

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This is the second in the series of blog posts from Rutland High School student and biathlete, Chloe Levins. Her last post detailed the Junior World Biathlon Championships in Romania and visits to some of Vlad the Impaler's haunts . This post describes a week of training in the Italian Alps and her experiences with Tyrolean culture.

Upon the conclusion of Youth/Junior World Biathlon Championships in Romania, another youth biathlete, Amanda Kautzer, and myself were privileged to continue our European adventure in the Italian Alps. We made ourselves at home in an apartment tucked in the shadow of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen.

The town where we stayed, Antholz-Anterselva, is a municipality in South Tyrol. South Tyrol, one of the most northerly regions in Italy, borders Austria. Before World War II, it was actually a part of Austria. Because of this, about 98% of the population speaks German rather than Italian. As a member of the European Union, Italy functions on the Euro. One Euro is equal to about one American dollar and 10 cents.

In Antholz-Anterselva, one narrow road leads through three small villages eventually ending at the main ski venue 2000m above sea level. We stayed in the lowest village, at approximately 1200m and made a 15 minute commute to the venue every day. Our village mostly consisted of apartments, hotels, and grocery stores, so there weren’t many options for us to immerse ourselves in the community. One observation we made, however, was that all stores closed during the day between 12PM and 3PM and all day on Sunday. From speaking with a friend, we also found out that children in school get a one hour break in the middle of the day for lunch and relaxation purposes.

Amanda and I stayed in an apartment by ourselves. Our landlord was an Antholz native with five young boys. She was very generous and spoke three languages: German, Italian, and English. As a farm-owner in the middle of the village, she offered us fresh milk from her cows nearly every morning. She provided a very warm and comforting environment for both of us. Although the apartment was easy to adapt to, one thing was not: cooking for ourselves. Because we made every meal on our own, we didn’t not get to experience much of the local cuisine.

The Antholz-Anterzelva Ski Stadium is deeply rooted in the biathlon culture. Antholz has hosted biathlon World Cup or World Championship events nearly every year since the mid-1980s. The altitude and prestige of this venue makes it a great option for professionals to complete a training block in preparation for important competitions. Since the senior World Biathlon Championships in Oslo, Norway are coming up next month, many of the best professional athletes in the world were training there for this very reason. Amanda and I practiced on the range everyday next to some members of the Ukrainian, Latvian, Belarusian, Estonian, and Bulgarian national teams.

On one of our last days in Italy, we ventured out of our apartment and into a nearby city called Dobbiaco. While there, we roamed the cobblestone streets of a gorgeous valley-city. There were multiple stores selling coffee, fresh bread, pasta, and (of course) Yankees hats. We stopped into one coffee shop for tea, cappuccinos, and famous Italian pizza! It was delicious.

Through word of mouth, we also found out that the week before we arrived was an annual festival that occurs in this part of Italy every year. It was a festival in celebration of the coming of spring! Supposedly, the locals dress up in costumes, similar to Halloween, and parade around the town with drinks and food. From the way it sounds, it would have been a fun celebration to be a part of.

After one week of good training and food, Amanda and I left Italy in excited pursuit of our next destination: Lillehammer, Norway.

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Skiing in the shadow of Vlad the Impaler

4/2/2016

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Chloe Levins is a senior at Rutland High School and enrolled in the Global Studies Concentration at the school. Recently, her participation in a sport called biathlon took her across the Atlantic Ocean for international competitions. Biathlon, the most popular winter sport in Europe, consists of shooting a .22 caliber rifle and cross-country skiing. This is her fourth year competing in biathlon and her second winter of international biathlon competitions. Below she describes her experiences in Romania.

This past week, 13 young Americans from across the U.S.A. and myself competed at the Youth/Junior World Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania. We stayed in a newly developed resort nestled in the heart of the Transylvanian Alps. Being less than 10 kilometers from Castle Bran, also known as Dracula’s Castle, and within walking distance of the racing venue allowed us to have the perfect proximal balance of culture and racing.

Romania, a former member of the Eastern Bloc, was under varying degrees of Soviet influence until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Now, Romania is an democratic Eastern European country. It is a member of the European Union, but is not currently on the Euro. Instead, it’s currency is called the Romanian “lei”. About 1 American dollar is worth 4 lei. Travel tip: find a currency exchange in the airport upon your arrival to your destination country!

Romanian, unlike the languages of other Eastern European countries, is a Romance language. “Romania” itself means “Land of the Romans”. Obviously, the language was still very foreign to us, but some parallels between Spanish and Romanian were tangible. Some overlapping words that I was exposed to consisted mostly of greetings and numbers. Travel tip: try to learn some native words before you leave the U.S.! Being polite is important, and if you can use your manners in a language that local citizens understand, it’s even better!

Based on my experience in Belarus last year and this year in Romania, Eastern European food is similar across the board. Every meal consisted of some form of potatoes: cubed, whole, mashed, baked, roasted, etc.. Other than potatoes, meat cutlets and soup were frequent occurrences at mealtime. At the resort where we stayed, they also offered croissants and traditional dessert cakes from other Eastern European countries such as Lithuania. These cakes were not as sweet as the cakes we eat for birthday celebrations in the U.S.. For example, the Lithuanian cake was made of white batter and a cheese filling with raisins. On occasion the resort staff would make pizza and ice cream which was always a big hit among the Americans!

On the second day in Romania, the youth girls and myself took a cab to one of the most famous tourist attractions in Romania: Dracula’s Castle. Originally built as a structural protection for the mountain pass in the 13th century, the Castle Bran was home to many Romanian monarchs through the 17th century. The most famous one, Vlad Dracul, influenced many books and Hollywood movies with the brutality of his torture tactics. Vlad Dracul, also known as Vlad the Impaler, signed his name on documents as “Dracula”. Although he was not a literal vampire, the vampire legend developed from the idea that he was “blood thirsty”. Whether he actually drank people’s blood or not is undetermined.

The castle itself is now a museum. Most of the rooms were preserved and open for us to tour. Nearly every room had a beautifully constructed fireplace lined with blue and white tiles. Crowns, staffs, armor, and clothing was also on display. One of the most interesting rooms, however, was the torture chamber. In this room, there was a large chair with what looked like pointy wooden dowels on every inch of it’s surface. Apparently, Dracula would weigh women on a scale compared to a bundle of rocks. If the woman weighed less than the random assortment of rocks, Dracula deemed that the devil lived inside of her and she should be punished.

In general, the accommodations and people at the resort made this trip very enjoyable for us. Every morning, I woke up to the sun rising over beautiful mountains, similar looking to the Colorado Rockies. Although it was above freezing nearly every day, the race organizers did an excellent job of preserving the race track for us. Not to mention, this was the most successful Youth/Junior Biathlon World Championships the United States has ever had! We had one World Championship victory, three podiums, six top tens, and seven top twenties! There are only good memories left from my experience in Romania.

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Doing the Right Thing

1/10/2015

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Posted by Marsha Cassel, World Language Teacher and Global Studies Mentor

It was just about this time last September that we were preparing to welcome our new friends from Pont de Suert, Spain. They pulled into Rutland High School in the dark—tired, excited and a little anxious—in the yellow school bus that we had sent along with organizer and Spanish teacher Patricia Alonso in order to gather them up at JFK airport. They politely snacked on Vermont apple cider and cookies in our school lobby, connected with their respective host families and disappeared into the night for a much-deserved rest.

That was the beginning of many beautiful friendships.

In June, I was invited to join twenty-four students and two colleagues (social studies teacher, Taborri Bruhl, and aforementioned Patricia Alonso), for Rutland High School’s travel to Pont de Suert to complete the loop of our brand new international exchange program. Our welcome in Spain was much grander than the modest late-night reception in Vermont. Our hosts had taken their final exams in advance, so they could be excused from school to meet us at the Barcelona airport—banner in hands—and to whisk us off in an air-conditioned tour bus for a beachfront lunch of paella and a revitalizing dip in the Mediterranean Sea.

Most of our visit, however, was spent in Pont de Suert, a quiet village in the autonomous province of Catalonia and home to approximately 2,500 residents.
On the first morning we visited the high school, and in small groups RHS students cycled through classrooms offering presentations about our school and Vermont to those who had not been able to visit us the previous fall. It was interesting to see what our presenters chose to highlight: Ben & Jerry’s, maple products, Raider football and our version of the “Shake it off” video (demonstrating our school spirit) were frequent inclusions. Afterward our students teamed up with their hosts and headed off on a scavenger hunt in order to get acquainted with the village and to practice communicating. They had to walk to various agencies and record the answers of the employees to specific prompts or visit certain landmarks and fill in answers based on their observations at those sites. Theoretically, the Americans were supposed to be asking all the questions, but the learning curve was too steep for the first day and the Spanish students pitched in to expedite the process. The Americans got their bearings while discovering the library, the old and new churches, the municipal center, the youth center and the immigration center…and they stopped at a local market to stock up on water. Water was the source of some anxiety—especially in the heat and with the exertion of the outdoor activities that we undertook. Many were apprehensive about drinking water to which they were not accustomed, despite the local reassurances that it was perfectly fine. As chaperones we were on alert for signs of dehydration throughout the trip.

Communication, in general, was a zigging and zagging experience. Our students did get braver and better at expressing themselves in Spanish as the hours and days passed. Oddly enough, however, Spanish was not only a second language for the Americans but it was also the second language for most of the residents of Pont de Suert. Catalan, the co-official language of the region, was the first and preferred language of most of the families and merchants.

Back in Vermont, before I had met our “intercambio” counterparts, I had wondered about the practicality of setting up an exchange with folks whose first language wasn’t even one that we taught at RHS. Yet while hiking, kayaking, dancing, cooking, eating, laughing, playing and traveling with these folks, while seamlessly navigating from one language to another, I was convinced of the merits of reaching for this connection.

My host father, Pere, spoke Catalan, Spanish and was eager to practice his English. His wife Pilar, spoke Spanish, had learned Catalan when she moved to Pont de Suert and had studied French as a second language in school. Their son and daughter spoke Catalan and were learning Spanish in school. I have studied and taught both French and Spanish but could only make inferences from written Catalan. When it was spoken, I could only understand if the utterances were heavily supported by obvious gestures. Our conversations were rich, collaborative, sometimes redundant (as portions were retranslated to others) and driven by the genuine desire to understand and be understood. We collectively reached for whatever language would serve our particular thought and urgency of the moment. Often sentences would have no linguistic integrity and would start in one language and conclude in another. Much information (and probably some misinformation) was transmitted but we weren’t actively conscious of how much. And my time spent with my family was warm and intimate as a result of the insatiable desire to communicate and to know one another—no matter the challenges.
This talent was not exclusive to my host family either. Whether we were at the school or on our outings to the national park and to a beautiful gorge, we were surrounded by polyglots. Our companions were versed in English, French, Spanish, Catalan, German, Italian and even in some of the more obscure heritage languages of the region. Their proficiency with languages was impressive and humbling.

In anticipation of making this post, I asked the student-travelers what some of their observations were:

Water was not something to take for granted.
It was much lighter for much longer in the evening. (It turns out that Spain changed from its “natural” solar time zone according to its longitudinal position to the Central European time zone during WW II to align with German occupied Europe and it has remained so since. Some say that this has contributed to Spain’s unusual late meals and sleep schedules.)
Screens were very rare on exterior windows and doors.
Classrooms were almost all identical and functional but unadorned.
The gymnasium was very small and there were no organized school sports.
“Just another ten minutes” would describe things that would often take many multiples of that.
The meals were very meat-centric in this region.
The meals were not a light or as spaced out as had been represented (perhaps due to our presence as guests?
Youth gatherings took place in public venues or even in the streets rather in private dwellings, which tended to be smaller and not able to accommodate groups.
The churches were relatively empty. There were not as many practicing Catholics as there once were.
The roads were scary by American standards, twisting and narrow with steep drop-offs, carved into the mountains
Outsiders viewed American culture as crime-filled and plagued with gun violence. This observation came up frequently in conversation and was a big fear that our hosts had about traveling to the US. (Even as we tried to reassure them that they would be safe, some of the highlighted US news that we encountered while we were away dealt with armed escaped prisoners and another separate fatal shooting back at home.
Crossing the border from Spain to France for a day trip was a non-event. Former check points were circumvented with new paving and stood like relics on abandoned lanes. There was no requirement for even a stop, a nod or conversation on the highways over the mountain, even for us as non-European Union passengers. Nada. Nothing. No one noticed. No one cared. Once we were in the EU, we were in. The only evidence that we had passed from one country to another was the change in the guard rail system. (This is a poignant contrast to our own lines at the Vermont/ Canadian border as well as to the news reports of desperate refugees from war-torn regions outside of the EU being thwarted from gaining access to some European countries.)

Perhaps the memory that will stick with our students the most, however, will be witnessing and participating in the Festival of Saint John the Baptist, which coincides with the celebration of the first day of summer and which, by design, marked the culmination of our visit to Pont de Suert. There is nothing that I can compare Las Fallas (Spanish) or Les Falles (Catalan) to in my experience of American traditions. Families gather in the mountains in the late afternoon or early evening and feast.

As night falls they build bonfires with which to ignite large, heavy wooded torches that were made or purchased for the occasion. Participants then perch the torches over their shoulders (fully engulfed in flames emitting impressive heat) and carry them, winding along the mountain path in the dark, guided by the light of the torch in front of them and by the sound of massive cow bells that some of the celebrants wear. They are urged to keep the distance consistent and tight between carriers. Many wear padding in their clothing to protect them from both the weight and heat of the torches. Some wear special protective head gear to keep their hair from singing from the sparks. Viewers get to watch what appears to be a twinkling, undulating serpent sliding down the hillside. This year’s festival saw some 300 people on the descent.

At the base of the mountain the members of the procession start to run into the main square of the village where they form a circle. When assembled there, they toss their torches into a pile at a designated place in the center and the flames consume much of the square. The noise and light and heat are amplified by the surrounding buildings and it is very primal.

Each village in the region boasts that its festival is the best. Some celebrate on the eve of St. John the Baptist; others on the night of. Therefore, visitors can have multiple experiences. In Pont de Suert, I participated in an early evening version for the children…

…and then watched as the adults, which included nine or more of our American students, as they completed the journey in the full darkness.

Remembering this ritual from a couple of months out now is easier than approaching it in real time as a member of the team of chaperones. When the trip was organized, we were aware of the festival and agreed that it would be an interesting experience to incorporate into our visit. In theory, from afar, we were imagining our group watching it, as temporary, honorary members of the community…as engaged on-lookers. When we became immersed in the culture, however, it became clear that both Americans and Spaniards were eager to expand the participation. As chaperones, nevertheless, there were important questions to be answered:

Did the rewards outweigh the risks (of possible injury to persons or property)?
Did our students understand the meaning and purpose of the tradition enough to enter into it with respect or were they merely seeking a thrill disconnected to the custom?
Would they be displacing another member of the host family by participating?
Would it create an additional expense for the family?
Would there be drinking as a part of the evening?
Were they fit enough to carry the enormous flaming torches the entire way? (Most of the adults, who were inviting participation, had practiced this since they were very young.)
If we declined the invitation, would it be considered rude?
Had we adequately described the nature of the event to the parents in the States during our transatlantic communiqués with them when requesting their explicit permission to let their children participate?
Wasn’t opening yourself up to new experiences part of the philosophy and adventure of travel?
Might we prevent them from a creating the memory of a lifetime by being too careful?

Our decision to let our students be part of the festivities was not a ‘slam-dunk.’ But after careful considerations, examining as many what-if’s as we could anticipate, getting permission from every family and providing thoughtful preparations and instructions, we trusted them.

And they were worthy of our trust.

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2015 RISE trip - Part 2

7/8/2015

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More reflections on the experience of becoming immersed in Japanese life and culture.

Delaney Courcelle:
Host family day-
On the last day with my host family, we woke up early, ate breakfast, and drove to a family fun center in Morioka; about a half hour drive from Hanamaki. While there, we met up with Trey and his host family, Ale and her host family, and Ben and his host family. The fun center was around five stories, filled with batting cages, basketball hoops, archery, a roller rink, tennis courts, arcade games, and karaoke rooms! We spent the majority of our day between the floors, spent some time singing karaoke with Chinami and Misora, and then went to a restaurant close by for lunch. I had a teriyaki burger and fries, which was absolutely delicious! After lunch, we drove to the Morioka mall and shopped for a couple of hours. We split up between kids and adults and were allowed to visit any store we pleased. After meeting up again, we ate at a Japanese/ Italian restaurant in the mall. It was a traditional Japanese restaurant; we sat on the tatami floor and ate off of the low wooden tables we were seated around. After dinner, I rode in Alejandra's host family's van with Chinami to the Shidotaira Onsen back in Hanamaki. The onsen (hot springs) was situated on the edge of the Toyosawa River, the main river running through Hanamaki. The onsen was beautiful! There were around five different baths, two of them situated under a roof outside. The onsen was the most relaxing place I've ever been to. The hot springs were the perfect end to an incredibly fun day. Host family day was an amazing experience for me and stood as a great last chance to bond and spend time with my family before I said goodbye to everyone the next day.

Kelton and Josh Myers (chaperones):
On Sunday morning, the RISE delegates, their host families, and many of the kind people who had been helping us throughout the week met at the train station to send us on our way back to Tokyo. It was a wonderful way to get to say goodbye to everyone we had met that week. After saying goodbye to everyone, we traveled by bullet train to Tokyo, where we were lucky enough to have two and a half days of time to spend seeing the city before flying back to America.

After we made our way to our hotel and checked in on Sunday afternoon, we headed out to see a few sights. We made our way to Meiji Shrine, the most important Shinto shrine in Tokyo. We observed as other people visiting the shrine washed their hands and mouth before entering the grounds, and then learned how the Japanese traditionally worship at a Shrine. After visiting the shrine, we wandered around the Harajuku district, which was full of Japanese students in a variety of fashions and outfits. There were a lot of shops to visit, and the students particularly enjoyed shopping in the Oriental Bazaar.

We went back to our hotel early that morning because on Monday morning we left bright and early at 3:30am (!!!) for the Tsukiji Fish Market. Every morning the fish market has a tuna auction, where buyers for restaurants come to bid on and purchase the best tuna for their restaurants! Only 120 people are allowed into the fish market to watch the tuna auction each morning, so we wanted to make sure that we got into that group. We arrived at the fish market at 3:45am, and were lucky enough to get some of the last vests for that day’s tuna auction. The hard part after that was waiting two hours for the tuna auction to actually start. Once we were allowed into the fish market, though, it was incredible. Watching the restaurant buyers vie for the best tuna was a once in a lifetime experience that we will never forget.

We traveled by subway all around the city of Tokyo over the rest of Monday and all day Tuesday, and saw so many amazing sites. On Monday, we went to Shibuya Crossing, the busiest intersction in Tokyo, and then to Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower used to be the highest building in Tokyo (until the Tokyo Sky Tree was built), and is modeled after the Eiffel Tower in Paris. We wandered through the grounds of Zojoji Temple, and also wandered through some of the shops in the Akihabara Electronic District.

On Tuesday, we traveled to the Imperial Palace East Garden and walked around the palace grounds. We spent time at the Senso-ji Temple (also known as the Asakusa Kannon), Tokyo’s most sacred and spectacular temple. Exploring the temple and grounds, and then having time to duck in and out of the myriad of Japanese shops that lined the area around the temple and grounds was one of our favorite parts of Tokyo. We bought little Japanese treats in one shop; we had no idea what they were, but they turned out to be red bean stuffed pastries that were so delicious. We also visited and went up the Tokyo Sky Tree, the tallest building in Tokyo and second tallest structure in the world. The panoramic views of Tokyo and Japan that we could see were insane. We also walked through Ueno Park, and ducked into the Ueno Zoo to see the giant pandas Ri Ri and Shin Shin.

Wednesday was a travel day, and it was a long one to get back from Tokyo to Rutland! Despite the great distance, we had an incredible cultural exchange to Japan. We met the most amazing people in Hanamaki and truly got to experience what life is like in Japan on a daily basis. The chance to spend a couple of extra days in Tokyo was also an incredible experience, and one that we will never forget.

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2015 RISE trip - Part 1

4/8/2015

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In 1986, Rutland, Vermont and the city of Ishidoriya, Japan (now part of Hanamaki) established a sister-city relationship that continues to this day through a yearly student exchange. The Rutland Ishidoriya Student Exchange (RISE) is a program that sends Rutland students to Japan each summer for an educational and cultural experience. In the autumn, the RISE students from Japan visit their Rutland counterparts and complete the yearly cycle. This past June, six Rutland students, Rutland High School guidance counselor Kelton Myers, and her husband, Josh, travelled to Hanamaki as part of the 2015 exchange. Below is the first installment of reflections on the cultural experience.

Braydon Moore:
On Tuesday, June 23rd, we had a big day in Ishidorya. We first went to the Ishidorya Branch Office and learned about what goes on behind the scenes in the city. We then went to Yaehata Preschool and had a ton of fun with all the kids. We sang the ABCs, a song about fruit, and then danced and sang to head shoulders knees and toes. By the end of that we were all laughing with each other. After, we introduced ourselves (in English) to the preschoolers and Kelton read Johnny Appleseed. Before we left the preschool, the kids all gave us an origami crane and a box with candy inside. Later, we went to the Ishidorya History and Folklore museum to learn all about the making and history of Sake. We then walked a little bit to see the rice field art depicting a traditional "deer dance." After, we walked to the Ishidorya road station to get a picture with the Rutland Monument. Then, we stopped at a cafe for some lunch. Most of us had soba or udon noodles. Our last stop was the Kochi Promotion Center, where we gave a presentation about Rutland to some Ishidorya locals, learned about traditional Taiko drumming, made dango (rice dumplings), and then played games and drank green tea with some kids. It was a great experience and personally one of my favorite days in Hanamaki.

Elizabeth Wideawake:
Today (June 25th), we went to the Hanamaki Kita Junior High School. At the school we participated in gym, science, and English class. In gym class we jumped rope with a giant rope and lots of students, and played dodgeball. In science class we made our own sparklers, using string and magnesium powder, and played with them. In English class we answered questions that the students spoke for us in English, and told them about our school and city. At the school we also ate school lunch, which was a curry vegetable soup, egg omelette, rice, milk, and fruit. At the end of the day, we did calligraphy, presented our student slideshow, watched the students perform a traditional dance, and helped clean the school. It was a very exciting day, especially when all of the students wanted our business cards! Finally, we took pictures with the students, loaded the bus, and waved goodbye as we drove away.

Alejandra Robinson:
The last day (June 26th) my RISE group visited a school in Hanamaki was the most fun I had on my trip to Japan. It was a Friday when we visited Ishidoriya Junior High School. All of us entered into the gym full of more students than I have seen before. The dance was very impressive, and I wish I could do something of that skill. After the Welcome Ceremony, we toured the school which was very clean and beautiful. Our group had some extra time so we played a quick and fun game of basketball. After the game, we participated in a Traditional Tea Ceremony. It was very peaceful sitting on the Tatami mats and eating the sweet before we drank the tea. Lunch came after the Tea Ceremony and I ate a very good meal with some students. It was fun showing them the video of me dancing to a "J Soul Brothers" song with my host sister. I had mentioned that I like to play soccer, so a couple of very nice girls invited me to play. It was so much fun to play soccer with them and I miss the girls so much, they were very cute and friendly! I liked how nice everyone in the school was and open to talking to me and giving me hugs. The classes, such as art, were interesting because I like drawing and how friendly everyone in the class was. I was sad to leave the school because I made so many good memories that day. I hope to go back and visit Hanamaki again.

Check back later in the week for more reflections about global learning.

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A Global Learner

5/6/2015

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Posted by Parth Patel and Erik Remsen
Parth Patel has just about finished up his Junior year at Rutland High School. This was his first year in Rutland having moved to Vermont last July. He moved from the city of Surat in the state of Gujarat in India. Surat is a city of over 4 million people on the Arabian Sea along the west coast of India.

His former school in Surat had both middle school and high school students. The school was smaller than Rutland High School, but the typical class size was 50 to 60 students. The high school students went to school from 8am to 12pm and the middle school students attended from 1pm to 4pm. At his school in Surat, the language of instruction was Gujarati. Additionally, he had language classes in English, Hindi, and Sanskrit.

He recently worked with teachers, Hilary Poremski-Beitzel and Patricia Alonso, on an English essay about his experiences this past year and about gender issues in both India and the United States. Below are excerpts from that essay in which he reflects on his first year in Rutland and on the differing gender roles in India and the United States.

"I want tell you about my new experiences in my new country USA. I remember when I moved here to the USA, my first day it was so cold and rainy. My flight at the airport was just the only flight because there was really bad weather and a thunderstorm...

I live in Rutland, Vermont which is such a great city. Everywhere I see in my life, everything is green. The trees and mountains especially are my favorite. It is good to live in living things but this is so different from where I used to live because is not that green and not that many trees there. Where I lived, there was too many people and a lot of pollution...

I like to live in USA because in my country, India, and USA have big differences everywhere because of how the people think. The food, lifestyle and schools are so different. I think especially women’s rights are the biggest main differences...

In general, in the US a woman does not need men to support them. They can live on their own and have jobs and support their children without men. It is very different than India. Women have equal rights in everything in the USA and can make choices to do what she wants and what she likes. They don't just do the housework. Women also have choices to choose their life partner and that is very different. Indian women don’t have rights about marriage because no one asks the girl what she likes in a man. Parents of the girl look for the boy and if the family likes that boy then woman see that guy and that’s how marriage happens in India. In India, women’s roles are just do the housework, take care of the kids and do the marriage when the family says! Education depends when you are born and when you live and what your family thinks about education. Sometimes families like their daughters go take education but some families don’t think that and that’s why girls don’t get educated! And sometimes the girl when she takes education but the family does not want her to and she is in trouble with her family! But now the Indian government is making new laws and to try to help women to take education. People try to help other people that women have some rights and now people helping women to do what she likes. Now people are changing and change their thinking that way also that women have rights to go outside and do work and do what she likes. Now families are thinking about women rights because now women fight for their rights and what she believes.

These is not challenging me because I also believe in that men and women have equal rights in everything. Sometimes I see people judging others based on appearances or background.  I just look one way: we are all human and we all live in this beautiful earth."

Many thanks to Hilary Poremski-Beitzel for accepting this blog post as a writing assignment and to Patricia Alonso for her assistance in editing and refining the writing.

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Contributors

RHS students, faculty, and alumni with global experiences to share with the community.

This blog is not an official U.S. Department of State blog. The views and information presented are the grantee’s own and do not represent the Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, IREX, or the U.S. Department of State.

3rd Annual Global Issues Network Conference at RHS

Experiencing the Italian Alps

Skiing in the shadow of Vlad the Impaler

Doing the Right Thing

2015 RISE trip - Part 2

2015 RISE trip - Part 1

A Global Learner

Archives

Contributors

Categories

3rd Annual Global Issues Network Conference at RHS

Experiencing the Italian Alps

Skiing in the shadow of Vlad the Impaler

Doing the Right Thing

2015 RISE trip - Part 2

2015 RISE trip﻿ - Part 1

A Global Learner

Archives

Contributors

Categories

2015 RISE trip - Part 1