Lessons down under
By AUTUMN GINN
Special to the AJC Gwinnett News
Published on: 07/16/06
We took 35 fifth-graders and sixth-graders to the other side of the world for two weeks in late June, and, for many of them, the highlight of the trip was going to school.
The 11- to 13-years-olds from 18 Gwinnett schools and 13 other metro Atlanta schools (plus two home schooled students) sampled the cultural and scenic wonders of Australia, traveling as People to People student ambassadors. They played digeridoos, snorkled in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, toured the magnificent Sydney Opera House and played with real kangaroos. An Aborigine showed them how to make fire.
But it was the day they spent as guests of the students and faculty of St. Columba's Primary School in Sydney that many of our students cited as the most memorable part of the adventure.
People to People is a national program founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and carried on by his granddaughter, Mary. Its purpose is to send some of our best young people around the world to experience foreign cultures and to promote peace through mutual understanding.
Students cannot simply sign up to make the trip. They must apply, submit three letters of recommendation and be interviewed by the teacher-leaders.
Of course, we also did many of the things most tourists do in Australia.
After landing in the nation's largest city, Sydney, we took a tour by cruise boat of the harbor, including the landmark opera house. The weather was gorgeous but chilly ? it was the middle of winter Down Under.
We rode the world's steepest incline railway (a 52-degree slope) down to the bottom of the rainforest in the Blue Mountains, only about a hour's journey outside Sydney. Once mined for coal, the rainforest is now a nature and cultural preserve.
During our three days in Sydney, we also toured the facilities of the 2000 Olympics, and we even swam at the Olympic Aquatic Center.
Next we went by rail to the state of Queensland. We visited a working sheep station and ranch, where the students were allowed to pet, hold and feed baby sheep, goats and even a joey (baby kangaroo). We were feted with a dinner, then a barn dance.
At the nearby Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary we saw Australian wildlife in a natural setting. We saw dingos and wombats. Each student also got to hold a koala, and many of them also were allowed to feed the kangaroos.
Our next stop was a two-day visit to Frasier Island, which we reached by ferry. Much of the island is a nature preserve that resembles a tropical jungle. We toured the island by four-wheel-drive bus, seeing its amazing eucalyptus and banksia trees. We even spotted a dingo, which is an endangered species, running on the beach.
In the interior of the sandy island is the beautiful, clear-water Lake Mackenzie. The waters pick up all the tints of the sky, and that makes for some stunning photographs. But the students were more interested in wading into the lake.
After Frasier Island, we flew to the resort city of Cairns. By bus, the trip would have taken about two days. The temperature was much warmer there, and the area was filled with palm trees.
From Cairns, we took a boat out to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the Great Barrier Reef. The boat tied up to a marker above a part of the reef.
The students ventured into the water in groups of four or five to receive lessons from snorkeling instructors. Out just a short distance from the boat, they were able to look down and see fish and coral. The instructors dove to the bottom and brought up cool things like sea cucumbers for the students to examine close up.
Later, the students were allowed to snorkel on their own in a roped-off area. Periodically, one of the instructors would throw food into the water, attracting great schools of fish for the students to swim among. They even spotted some clownfish, the type that was used for the lead role of a popular animated movie. But our students can truly say they "found Nemo."
On the final day of our Australian odyssey, we visited Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park outside Cairns. We were treated to a play depicting Aboriginal history and given demonstrations of the digeridoo. Some of the students tried to play the musical instrument, and they all got a chance to learn to throw a boomerang and an Aboriginal spear. Some of them even got their faces painted like the natives and learned how to start a fire without matches.
Many of the students kept journals during the trip. In them, they declared that their day at St. Columba's was their favorite experience. In the morning, our students joined the Australian students for an art project and then for a game of cricket.
Lunch was grilled chicken and hamburgers, prepared and eaten outside. The Australian students take their noon meal this way as often as possible. After lunch, there was a team trivia contest, featuring questions on Australian and American facts.
After the game, we all enjoyed the Australian custom of tea time, with biscuits (cookies), cakes and water for those who weren't up for drinking tea.
At the end of that day, our students and their Australian counterparts ? all 200 students of St. Columba's ? joined for an assembly at the adjacent church.The two groups of students exchanged gifts and sang the national anthems of both countries. It was deeply touching to see many of the students exchange addresses with their new Australian friends at the end of the day.
All in all, our students truly lived out the motto of People to People student ambassadors: "Peace through understanding." They (and their teachers) also had a summer vacation they'll remember forever
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By AUTUMN GINN
Special to the AJC Gwinnett News
Published on: 07/16/06
We took 35 fifth-graders and sixth-graders to the other side of the world for two weeks in late June, and, for many of them, the highlight of the trip was going to school.
The 11- to 13-years-olds from 18 Gwinnett schools and 13 other metro Atlanta schools (plus two home schooled students) sampled the cultural and scenic wonders of Australia, traveling as People to People student ambassadors. They played digeridoos, snorkled in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, toured the magnificent Sydney Opera House and played with real kangaroos. An Aborigine showed them how to make fire.
But it was the day they spent as guests of the students and faculty of St. Columba's Primary School in Sydney that many of our students cited as the most memorable part of the adventure.
People to People is a national program founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and carried on by his granddaughter, Mary. Its purpose is to send some of our best young people around the world to experience foreign cultures and to promote peace through mutual understanding.
Students cannot simply sign up to make the trip. They must apply, submit three letters of recommendation and be interviewed by the teacher-leaders.
Of course, we also did many of the things most tourists do in Australia.
After landing in the nation's largest city, Sydney, we took a tour by cruise boat of the harbor, including the landmark opera house. The weather was gorgeous but chilly ? it was the middle of winter Down Under.
We rode the world's steepest incline railway (a 52-degree slope) down to the bottom of the rainforest in the Blue Mountains, only about a hour's journey outside Sydney. Once mined for coal, the rainforest is now a nature and cultural preserve.
During our three days in Sydney, we also toured the facilities of the 2000 Olympics, and we even swam at the Olympic Aquatic Center.
Next we went by rail to the state of Queensland. We visited a working sheep station and ranch, where the students were allowed to pet, hold and feed baby sheep, goats and even a joey (baby kangaroo). We were feted with a dinner, then a barn dance.
At the nearby Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary we saw Australian wildlife in a natural setting. We saw dingos and wombats. Each student also got to hold a koala, and many of them also were allowed to feed the kangaroos.
Our next stop was a two-day visit to Frasier Island, which we reached by ferry. Much of the island is a nature preserve that resembles a tropical jungle. We toured the island by four-wheel-drive bus, seeing its amazing eucalyptus and banksia trees. We even spotted a dingo, which is an endangered species, running on the beach.
In the interior of the sandy island is the beautiful, clear-water Lake Mackenzie. The waters pick up all the tints of the sky, and that makes for some stunning photographs. But the students were more interested in wading into the lake.
After Frasier Island, we flew to the resort city of Cairns. By bus, the trip would have taken about two days. The temperature was much warmer there, and the area was filled with palm trees.
From Cairns, we took a boat out to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the Great Barrier Reef. The boat tied up to a marker above a part of the reef.
The students ventured into the water in groups of four or five to receive lessons from snorkeling instructors. Out just a short distance from the boat, they were able to look down and see fish and coral. The instructors dove to the bottom and brought up cool things like sea cucumbers for the students to examine close up.
Later, the students were allowed to snorkel on their own in a roped-off area. Periodically, one of the instructors would throw food into the water, attracting great schools of fish for the students to swim among. They even spotted some clownfish, the type that was used for the lead role of a popular animated movie. But our students can truly say they "found Nemo."
On the final day of our Australian odyssey, we visited Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park outside Cairns. We were treated to a play depicting Aboriginal history and given demonstrations of the digeridoo. Some of the students tried to play the musical instrument, and they all got a chance to learn to throw a boomerang and an Aboriginal spear. Some of them even got their faces painted like the natives and learned how to start a fire without matches.
Many of the students kept journals during the trip. In them, they declared that their day at St. Columba's was their favorite experience. In the morning, our students joined the Australian students for an art project and then for a game of cricket.
Lunch was grilled chicken and hamburgers, prepared and eaten outside. The Australian students take their noon meal this way as often as possible. After lunch, there was a team trivia contest, featuring questions on Australian and American facts.
After the game, we all enjoyed the Australian custom of tea time, with biscuits (cookies), cakes and water for those who weren't up for drinking tea.
At the end of that day, our students and their Australian counterparts ? all 200 students of St. Columba's ? joined for an assembly at the adjacent church.The two groups of students exchanged gifts and sang the national anthems of both countries. It was deeply touching to see many of the students exchange addresses with their new Australian friends at the end of the day.
All in all, our students truly lived out the motto of People to People student ambassadors: "Peace through understanding." They (and their teachers) also had a summer vacation they'll remember forever
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