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So much about Chile was unfamiliar, from the maids in the middle-class households to the morning power blackouts.
And still, Nina Wallace felt a kinship with the country. People held fast to family. They put ties to home above all else.
It was the kind of value system Wallace had always admired - and so rarely saw in the United States.
"Here, we're always searching to leave home, but in Chile you find yourself through your family and the new friends you make," said Wallace, a Bellevue high-school student who spent three weeks studying at a sister school in Chile. "I had a great affirmation with the culture."
The idea of creating a "global citizen" is nothing new for the Schools of the Sacred Heart, a group of independent, all-girls Catholic schools that spans the United States and 38 countries. But in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, one school in Bellevue took that international focus to an entirely new level.
As part of its new "Think Global" initiative, Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart sends about 20 students a year to study in classrooms and serve in communities around the world. Likewise, students from as close as Canada and as far away as Uganda study at the small, fifth-through-12th-grade school in Bellevue.
Think Global also reaches deep into the classroom, from a sixth-grade focus on Egypt and the African kingdoms to a yearlong senior seminar called "Power and Powerlessness: A Revolutionary Response."
The other day, seventh-grade teacher Bob Hinckley watched one of his students teach the class the art of tai chi during a unit on China.
"They just jump in with both feet," said Hinckley, a social-studies teacher who earlier retired from the Bellevue School District. "The kids often teach the class and I sit in the back and say, 'Thank you very much. I learned a lot.' "
It's the kind of curriculum that teaches critical thinking as well as an understanding of cultures, said Mary Magnano Smith, head of school at Forest Ridge. And that combination is critical, she said, for girls who hope to influence their world for the better. At Forest Ridge, an independent, all-girls college-preparatory school, the expectations are high: Its Web site asks, "Who will educate the first woman president?"
"As we see world events turning over, and these girls begin to take leadership positions, they need that global perspective," said Smith, an alumnus of Forest Ridge. "As educators, we have a duty to open up the world for them as best we can."
In January, the school will welcome students from Japan, Uganda and Colombia. Some will stay for a few weeks while others will spend an entire year.
Still more students will arrive in the summer for service projects. Over the past two years, students from both Mexico and Japan have joined Forest Ridge students as they volunteered at various social-service agencies. Recently, the school hosted three students from Scotland for three weeks.
"We've got this cultural wave that comes in and teaches us all these things," said Natasha Tomich, a senior.
"Having them here really enhances our learning, but it also gives us a new perspective on life."
It took a Japanese exchange student to get Tomich interested in the language she had studied in class for years. The girl showed up on her volleyball team one day - and suddenly, Tomich felt the flicker of inspiration.
She got down to work, downloading Japanese rock music, transcribing it, translating it, learning to say the words with the right accent. By the time she participated in one of the school's international service projects, Tomich could serve as the bridge between the Japanese students and the Bellevue students.
"The American girls looked at me as Japanese, but the Japanese girls looked at me as American," said Tomich, who has become nearly fluent in the language. "I think that's when I realized I wanted to go into international relations."
Until a few weeks ago, the Think Global program ran on the strength of tuition money and volunteer work from the director, Janet Graeber. But the school recently got good news: a $50,000 grant for the program from the E.E. Ford Foundation, which supports independent education. The money will go toward teacher training, a stipend for Graeber and scholarships for Forest Ridge students who can't afford the cost of a trip abroad.
The common structure of Sacred Heart schools and the mission statement they share make it easier for girls to study in classrooms around the world.
But for all the friendships formed and the lessons learned, there are always cultural gaps to overcome. One group of students arrived in Bellevue last year expecting their host families to drive them back and forth to nightclubs. This was, they said, how life worked back in their country.
"The host moms were going, 'I don't think so,' " said Tomich.
The American students also have experienced culture shock. Last summer, Rae Wyse traveled with other Forest Ridge girls and students from Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie as part of an effort to connect 70 computers to secondary schools in Uganda.
It was Wyse's first trip out of the country, and she expected to live like any other Ugandan girl. But she was not allowed to eat lunch with the schoolgirls outside, on the ground, where the dust was kicking up. The school officials wanted her inside, eating in a place of honor, next to the teachers.
It was one of many gifts Wyse came to accept during those few weeks. The students heated up the water in her washbasin so she could bathe in comfort. They gave up their own mosquito nets to hang them over her bed. They unhooked the nets so that she could climb inside before bedtime. And they tucked her into the cot before hooking the net up again, to protect her from the bugs.
It was striking, how little they had, said Wyse. And it was striking how much they appreciated all that they were given, from the privilege of attending boarding school to the chance to dance with an American.
"They wouldn't even say they were sad to be apart from their parents, because they were so grateful for the opportunity to go to school," said Wyse, who has kept in touch with some of the girls through e-mail. "The main thing I brought back is gratitude for everything."
Cara Solomon: 206-464-2024 or csolomon@seattletimes.com
So much about Chile was unfamiliar, from the maids in the middle-class households to the morning power blackouts.
And still, Nina Wallace felt a kinship with the country. People held fast to family. They put ties to home above all else.
It was the kind of value system Wallace had always admired - and so rarely saw in the United States.
"Here, we're always searching to leave home, but in Chile you find yourself through your family and the new friends you make," said Wallace, a Bellevue high-school student who spent three weeks studying at a sister school in Chile. "I had a great affirmation with the culture."
The idea of creating a "global citizen" is nothing new for the Schools of the Sacred Heart, a group of independent, all-girls Catholic schools that spans the United States and 38 countries. But in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, one school in Bellevue took that international focus to an entirely new level.
As part of its new "Think Global" initiative, Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart sends about 20 students a year to study in classrooms and serve in communities around the world. Likewise, students from as close as Canada and as far away as Uganda study at the small, fifth-through-12th-grade school in Bellevue.
Think Global also reaches deep into the classroom, from a sixth-grade focus on Egypt and the African kingdoms to a yearlong senior seminar called "Power and Powerlessness: A Revolutionary Response."
The other day, seventh-grade teacher Bob Hinckley watched one of his students teach the class the art of tai chi during a unit on China.
"They just jump in with both feet," said Hinckley, a social-studies teacher who earlier retired from the Bellevue School District. "The kids often teach the class and I sit in the back and say, 'Thank you very much. I learned a lot.' "
It's the kind of curriculum that teaches critical thinking as well as an understanding of cultures, said Mary Magnano Smith, head of school at Forest Ridge. And that combination is critical, she said, for girls who hope to influence their world for the better. At Forest Ridge, an independent, all-girls college-preparatory school, the expectations are high: Its Web site asks, "Who will educate the first woman president?"
"As we see world events turning over, and these girls begin to take leadership positions, they need that global perspective," said Smith, an alumnus of Forest Ridge. "As educators, we have a duty to open up the world for them as best we can."
In January, the school will welcome students from Japan, Uganda and Colombia. Some will stay for a few weeks while others will spend an entire year.
Still more students will arrive in the summer for service projects. Over the past two years, students from both Mexico and Japan have joined Forest Ridge students as they volunteered at various social-service agencies. Recently, the school hosted three students from Scotland for three weeks.
"We've got this cultural wave that comes in and teaches us all these things," said Natasha Tomich, a senior.
"Having them here really enhances our learning, but it also gives us a new perspective on life."
It took a Japanese exchange student to get Tomich interested in the language she had studied in class for years. The girl showed up on her volleyball team one day - and suddenly, Tomich felt the flicker of inspiration.
She got down to work, downloading Japanese rock music, transcribing it, translating it, learning to say the words with the right accent. By the time she participated in one of the school's international service projects, Tomich could serve as the bridge between the Japanese students and the Bellevue students.
"The American girls looked at me as Japanese, but the Japanese girls looked at me as American," said Tomich, who has become nearly fluent in the language. "I think that's when I realized I wanted to go into international relations."
Until a few weeks ago, the Think Global program ran on the strength of tuition money and volunteer work from the director, Janet Graeber. But the school recently got good news: a $50,000 grant for the program from the E.E. Ford Foundation, which supports independent education. The money will go toward teacher training, a stipend for Graeber and scholarships for Forest Ridge students who can't afford the cost of a trip abroad.
The common structure of Sacred Heart schools and the mission statement they share make it easier for girls to study in classrooms around the world.
But for all the friendships formed and the lessons learned, there are always cultural gaps to overcome. One group of students arrived in Bellevue last year expecting their host families to drive them back and forth to nightclubs. This was, they said, how life worked back in their country.
"The host moms were going, 'I don't think so,' " said Tomich.
The American students also have experienced culture shock. Last summer, Rae Wyse traveled with other Forest Ridge girls and students from Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie as part of an effort to connect 70 computers to secondary schools in Uganda.
It was Wyse's first trip out of the country, and she expected to live like any other Ugandan girl. But she was not allowed to eat lunch with the schoolgirls outside, on the ground, where the dust was kicking up. The school officials wanted her inside, eating in a place of honor, next to the teachers.
It was one of many gifts Wyse came to accept during those few weeks. The students heated up the water in her washbasin so she could bathe in comfort. They gave up their own mosquito nets to hang them over her bed. They unhooked the nets so that she could climb inside before bedtime. And they tucked her into the cot before hooking the net up again, to protect her from the bugs.
It was striking, how little they had, said Wyse. And it was striking how much they appreciated all that they were given, from the privilege of attending boarding school to the chance to dance with an American.
"They wouldn't even say they were sad to be apart from their parents, because they were so grateful for the opportunity to go to school," said Wyse, who has kept in touch with some of the girls through e-mail. "The main thing I brought back is gratitude for everything."
Cara Solomon: 206-464-2024 or csolomon@seattletimes.com