Recently Rick DaSilva ’89, Associate Director of the Center for International Students, along with faculty Wes and MacKenzie Chaput, Kelly and Nate Meleo ’95, and Bert Nascimento traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark with Tabor juniors and seniors for a week of home stays, site seeing, and classroom learning at Rysensteen Gymnasium.
Each day Rick prompted the students with questions about their visit to Denmark and here are some of their thoughts:
Topics: Tabor Academy, Cultural exchange, International Learning, International Blog
I applied for the Idemitsu Scholarship on a whim, never dreaming I’d actually get it. Even after the “Congratulations!” email from Mr. Downes and a celebratory phone call with my dad, I didn’t really believe it was happening. It didn’t hit me at any point during the months of online prep, or when I was packing and printing my itinerary, or during the 20-something hours of flying. Reality only sank in after I saw the first Japanese ad in the airport and realized I had no idea what I was looking at. All of the excitement and nerves that I should have been able to process and come to terms with over the previous six months overwhelmed me instantly, and I was torn between the emotions of “Oh my gosh, I’m in Japan!” and “Dear Lord, I’m in Japan. By myself. For a month.”
Topics: Cultural exchange, International Learning, Global Citizens
There is nothing more rewarding for language students than connecting with peers across linguistic and national borders. This year, Tabor’s French 4 students had the opportunity to experience this by partnering with a class at the Institut d’éducation motrice in Couzeix, a small town in central France. We first met their instructor Madame Stenger via an online forum. At the time we both had thirteen students eager to participate. Our primary goal was to communicate with francophone students in French. Most groups mostly want to practice English, which makes finding a good match challenging. Madame Stenger’s interest was cultural. She wanted her students to learn about America in their own language. It was a great fit.
Topics: Tabor Academy, Cultural exchange, Academics, Global Citizens
During my sophomore year I developed a passion for French that prompted me to apply for Tabor's Shattuck Grant. The Shattuck Grant is given annually to a student who displays excellence in a language and who would like to study abroad and pursue further immersion through a summer program. I was fortunate to use the grant money I received to assist with my trip over the summer to Paris for a 9-week immersion program through an organization called Education First.
Topics: Cultural exchange, Academics, Student Life, Global Citizens
by Anika Walker Johnson, Dean of Multicultural Education and Community Life
“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him...We need not wait to see what others do.” (Mahatma Ghandi)
In 2013, Tabor Academy hired educational consultant, Christine Savini of Diversity Directions to conduct a school-wide diversity and inclusion climate assessment to enhance diversity at Tabor. The purpose of this assessment was to help us as a school community to identify areas of both weakness and strength. We continue to be a work in progress as we grow toward becoming “a community where all members have voice, are given respect and see their identities reflected and affirmed in the curriculum, co-curriculum, physical and virtual environments of the school”. Though growth can be unsettling and not as fast as we would like at times, we are leaning into that discomfort to effect the changes that we know are necessary.
Topics: Tabor Academy, Cultural exchange, Diversity
Tabor students and faculty are immersed in a service learning trip to Vietnam. Students will be writing their recaps and thoughts on the whole experience, which we will post to Tabor Talk. Check back frequently for updates!
Topics: Tabor Academy, Cultural exchange, Student Life, Service Learning
Twenty Spanish students are becoming Seawolves! Our visitors, who arrived one week ago, are part of what is becoming an every other year exchange between Tabor and a school in Spain located in Begues, near Barcelona. They are with us for two weeks.
This being our second exchange with this same school, it is fun to see the Tabor students who traveled to Spain on the last trip welcome cousins and friends of friends they met in 2012.
Our day families have been gracious enough to act as host families to the students showing them American family life, while their Tabor student partners are adopting these students into their every activity. The school has planned trips to Boston and Providence, and yesterday they visited the New Bedford Whaling Museum to learn about our local history. Some fun social time has been planned as well with a pizza and movie night, skating and more. So far, so good!
Not only have they come at the most beautiful time of the year, but also there is so much happening at Tabor right now for our guests to enjoy. Theatre, music and dance all this week. Holderness Day on Saturday with a pep rally on Friday night. Then on Sunday night and Monday, they will have an opportunity to develop some lifelong leadership skills at our Graboys Leadership Symposium (more later on that!). These kids have come at just the best possible time to be a Seawolf!
We hope they are enjoying Tabor, and we look forward to our students chance to explore Spanish culture when they arrive in Begues in June!
Topics: Tabor Academy, Cultural exchange, Student Life
