Wiscasset High School welcomed 22 teachers from Taishun Yucai School in Zhejiang Province, China, at an all-school assembly Oct. 21.
RSU 12 officials said the visit could be the first step in opening up a cultural exchange between Wiscasset and the province and eventually bring Chinese students to study at the high school.
Wiscasset High School is hoping to host four or five students at first, RSU 12 Supt. Greg Potter said, with an eye towards an eventual true exchange. “We have great resources here, with Kieve and Chewonki in the area,” he said. “We are close to colleges. We have a strong arts culture.”
Potter said discussions about such an exchange program with a sister city in China began 18 months ago.
“We had only six weeks to prepare for today’s visit,” he said. “We have been working with Suzanne Fox from Fox Intercultural Services as our liaison and the decision to come was just announced.”
Potter said Zhejiang Province is an “ecological showcase” with the residents taking the health of the Earth very seriously. “We are committed to sound ecology here, too.”
The principal of the Taishun Schools, Xia Keding, brought 22 of his teachers with him for the morning visit to Wiscasset High School. A translator accompanied the contingent as well as staff photographers and videographers.
Zhejiang Province, situated on China’s southeastern coast, is on the southern part of the Yangtze River Delta; southwest of next-door neighbor Shanghai. Considered rural by Chinese standards, Zhejiang Province alone has a total of “79 arts performance organizations, 1634 cultural and arts centers, 84 public libraries and 73 museums,” according to Xia Keding.
Fox opened the assembly and Wiscasset High School Principal Deborah Taylor welcomed the guests. Students from Wiscasset Elementary School chorus sang a welcome song, and the WHS chorus performed. Potter gave a brief welcome on behalf of the district.
After comments from Wiscasset Chamber of Commerce president Chris Diltis, Taylor read the “Sister City” contract in full. Keding and Potter came forward and sat together for a ceremonial signing of the contract.
Keding spoke to the assembly about his schools, saying they had close to 4500 students with a 96.7 rate of college acceptance. “We have an English Language School that begins in Kindergarten for all students,” he said, “We are very happy to be here to meet you.”
He explained most of their high school students lived at school, with only about 18 percent residing at home.
Wiscasset High School Student Ambassadors escorted the delegates to the cafeteria for refreshments and a PowerPoint demonstration on the resources available to students.
Each teacher was given a gift bag and a portfolio of information about Maine to take for further study. When Vice Principal Susan Poppish mentioned the student to teacher ratio at Wiscasset (13-1) in her remarks, there were many smiles and nods from the teachers from China.
The Chinese teachers moved into four groups and accompanied student ambassadors to visit a sampling of classes, including calculus, Honors English, ceramics and photography. A round table questions and answers session concluded the visit to the high school.
Wiscasset High School has welcomed tuition students from local areas for many years, and presently has around 30 students in that category. According to Potter, the addition of students from China, who would live in local homes, affords a great opportunity for learning and cultural exchange.
The delegation has already visited Columbia, NYU, and Princeton and left Friday afternoon for Jacksonville, Fla. “If they take a good report home, we could welcome our first students from Taishun Yucai School next September,” Taylor said.
