The international students from last semester enjoying some Canadian culture before leaving to go back home. Photo courtesy of Carol Goerke
By Mallory Day [1]
BELLEVILLE – Students from Germany, Austria, Brazil, China, Mexico and Vietnam have been arriving in Belleville this week and will start classes at four local high schools in the next few days.
The students will attend Bayside [2], Moira [3], Quinte [4] and Centennial [5] secondary schools. The program started in 2001 with four students. Three from Hong Kong went to Bayside Secondary and one from South Korea went to Quinte Secondary.
Carol Goerke, the international student program manager for the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board, said the program was set up to offer some diversity in the classroom.
“It’s a further understanding in cultural development in our school communities,” said Goerke. But it goes beyond the schools and into the community because the international students all stay with local families, she said.
The program gets anywhere from 120 to 130 students a year into the four schools. About a dozen countries are represented, she said.
“Typically about 30 to 32 students go to each school. Since we’ve started, we’ve really diversified, and the reason for that was to allow our students to become global-minded citizens.”
Preparing for 21 new students this week @HPEschools [6] are thrilled to welcome students from Germany, Austria, Brazil, China, Mexico & Vietnam! pic.twitter.com/7CARLRCrD0 [7]
— HPE International (@ISP_HPE) January 30, 2017 [8]
Dave Patterson, the vice-chair of the school board and trustee for Belleville and Thurlow, said bringing in international students was a goal for the board.
“It’s an opportunity for our students to have a global awareness. Certainly including international students as part of our school academic population is critical to realize that goal,” said Patterson.
Part of Goerke’s job is to go abroad to reach out to schools whose students might be interested in the program.
“I often go to China in March, and I was in Germany and Austria in the fall,” she said. “I’ll go back to each of the countries where we’ve had students from so we continue to have great partnerships with schools who send us students.”
The international students can choose to stay at one of the Belleville schools for a semester, a full school year or until they graduate.
This year’s participants started arriving on Monday morning, Goerke said. On Friday there will be an orientation day.
Usually it is the students who come from the farthest countries, such as China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey, who stay in the program until graduation, she said.
“They’re typically here to graduate and go on to a Canadian university. The other students … are here to enhance and improve their English, to become more independent and to learn more about Canadian culture.”