Bishop McHugh
Bishop McHugh Regional Catholic School students received a special visit on October 8 from Christopher L. Hayes, Assistant Vice President/Branch Manager of the Dennisville branch of Sturdy Savings Bank. Mr. Hayes stopped by to drop off a check in the amount of $2,250 for the school’s Adopt-A-Student Program, which provides tuition assistance for families in need.
Bishop McHugh Regional School is a PreK-8 regional school in Cape May County with a student centered curriculum grounded in the Gospel values. For more information, visit http://bishopmchugh.com/mchugh/. The community is invited to “Like” Bishop McHugh on Facebook at facebook.com/BishopMcHughRegionalSchool and follow Principal McGuire on Twitter at @BMRCSPrincipal.
Ocean City
Ocean City Intermediate School (OCIS) teacher Cholehna Weaver certainly can bring outside perspectives to her Social Studies and Language Arts classes this school year after spending four weeks in China this summer! Weaver was one of just 16 educators from around the country selected by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, for the trip.
“The Ocean City School District congratulates Cholehna on her selection as a participant in the Fiscal Year 2015 Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program, and hopes that her participation resulted in a very productive and enjoyable learning experience that she can share with the entire OCIS family,” said Ocean City School District Superintendent Kathleen Taylor, Ed.D., who honored Weaver at a Board meeting in June.
Weaver, who has taught at OCIS since 2013, stayed in four Chinese cities during her visit: Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, and Chongqing, chosen to highlight different aspects of the country. The itinerary included meetings, discussions and site visits to governmental agencies, media outlets, and historic and cultural sites designed to complement lectures and provide an immersive learning experience.
“It was amazing and eye-opening. I didn’t know a lot about China before going, so I was interested in learning more about it,” said Weaver. “I’m extremely grateful for the support of the Ocean City School District administration. This was a once in a lifetime trip and I’m already looking at other opportunities that will help me bring other things into the classroom.”
Weaver created an educational Instagram account so that her students and their parents/guardians could virtually follow along on her journey. She even posed questions while abroad that her students could answer for small tokens and gifts Weaver brought back from China.
Weaver currently is working on a curriculum project that she will incorporate into her classroom in the next few months, focusing on city management of population growth. “We’ll look at China’s challenges and how their city development projects have been very rapid,” said Weaver. “My hope is that the kids in my class can brainstorm and think about what sustainable city development looks like and how to grow without encroaching on environmental and land resources.” Weaver said her project was inspired by Chinese buildings and cities that are doing “out-of-the-box” things to grow, such as vertical farming.
Prior to departing on July 3, Weaver met with the 15 other scholarship recipients in San Francisco for a two and a half-day pre-departure orientation that included sessions on the Chinese Language, Chinese History, the Economics of the Chinese Middle Class, and Modern Chinese Society. The program accepted applications for all K-12 educators, administrators, and media resource specialists who are responsible for curriculum and instruction in the social sciences, humanities, foreign languages, and area studies.
The Seminars Abroad Program is administered by the U.S. Department of Education’s International and Foreign Language Education office and the Office of Postsecondary Education, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State. Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program participants all are required to develop and submit a curriculum unit that is relevant to their teaching or administrative responsibilities. The curriculum project that is created will serve as a valuable resource for other educators who do not have the opportunity to participate in such a program, according to the Department of Education’s website.
