Novosibirsk Student Group Travels Halfway Around the World to Visit Poulsbo's West Sound Academy

March 12, 2012 - PRLog -- A few minutes before the end of the school day at West Sound Academy (WSA) on Friday, March 9th, a small bus pulled up in front of the American flag flying outside Baker Hall.  Thirteen teenagers and their two adult chaperones stepped out onto the parking lot, relieved that their 48-hour, 4,700-mile, journey from their homes in Novosibirsk, Siberia was over.  The Russian delegation from Gymnasium #10 had arrived!  West Sound Academy's Head of School Barrie Hillman greeted the students, their English teacher Natasha Marina and fellow adult chaperone Olga Verba, and then proceeded to take the group on a tour of the school.   Local host families from the Kitsap area came to the WSA campus to meet their Russian guests, and took the grateful travelers home to get some much-needed rest.


The visit by the Russian student group was first proposed to Hillman by Janie Eckberg, Bainbridge Island artist and founder and leader of the long-running Camp Siberia program that recruited and trained Island teens to work in an American-style summer camp for orphans in Novosibirsk. . One of Eckberg's many friends in that city, Vera Ivanovna Sukhina, is principal at Gymnasium #10.   Sukhina wanted to organize an exchange program for some of her high school students at an American school, and Eckberg contacted Hillman at West Sound Academy.  Since WSA's adoption of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme last year, the school has had an increasingly global focus in its curriculum and student body, and Hillman was happy to accept the offer.   "While incorporating thirteen new students in the middle of the quarter is a challenge, the excitement in their eyes, their wonder at the differences in our schools and culture invigorates the faculty and students creating an atmosphere of exchange, collaboration and inspirational learning for both West Sound students and the Russian students. Our students will have life long friends in another part of the world and this opens up the very exciting global opportunity of traveling to their home next year for a true cultural exchange," says Hillman.  

West Sound Academy students are used to having classmates and friends from around the world.  This academic year the school has welcomed twelve international students from six different countries into their community.  Madeleine Bentley, a WSA 9th-grader, says "“Hearing at least three or four languages being spoken around the lunch table, I mean, where else does that happen?”  Gabby Pine, another 9th-grader, adds, “I’ve learned tons about many different cultures and even learned parts of their languages.”

The visitors' hometown, Novosibirsk, is known as 'the Russian Chicago' - a metropolis of 1.5 million people in the southern part of western Siberia, and the third largest city in all of Russia.  Their school, Gymnasium #10, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and is recognized nationally in Russia for its English program and the high academic achievement of its students.  What brought these students to come to Poulsbo's West Sound Academy?  Natasha Marina, their English teacher and advisor, says, "When the parents of these students were growing up, our country was closed.  Now, they want their children to have a wider exposure to other countries.  When I was explaining to parents why they should let their children visit America, I told them the key to success for their kids is to be able to communicate with the world.  This trip will help them learn how to do that."  Marina also wants to overcome stereotyped ideas that some Americans have of Russians that come from movies or other popular media.  "We would like to convey the message that we are not bad people!" she says.  Marina and her school have put an invitation out to the families of West Sound Academy:  "we would like to have your kids come visit us next year."

West Sound Academy's Hillman and the other local organizers have planned a variety of activities for the group during their two-week stay in Kitsap.  Yesterday Hillman led a group of students on a trip to the Olympic Peninsula for some hiking through Fort Worden and shopping.   She admits, " I have to say that even after just one day I am totally in love with these Russian kids. They are so engaged in this experience and it makes me look at the school with new appreciation and to find commonality with great students from such a different environment. It was really fun to know that a 17 year old boy from Novosibirsk loves The Red Hot Chili Peppers as much as I do."

Two WSA teachers will take the group on a tour of Seattle, complete with a trip up the Space Needle, a walk through Pike Place Market, and a ride on the Monorail.   The students' last day in class will be Friday, March 23rd, and then they will leave for a one-week tour of the United States with two stops:  Los Angeles and New York.  Tops on the students' 'must-see' list to make their trip to the United States complete:  Disneyland and the Statue of Liberty.

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West Sound Academy: an independent college preparatory school for grades 6-12 on the Kitsap Peninsula in Poulsbo, Washington, providing a rigorous academic and art curriculum and offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in grades 11-12.