Many clubs take trips, but none go quite as far as the China Partnership.

The partnership, which will be reinstated this fall, pairs a school from the United States with a school from China and sends students between the schools to foster international communication and cultural awareness. First Flight’s sister school is Meicun Senior High School, from Wuxi (pronounced woo-shi) in the Jiangsu Province in eastern China.

“I’m very excited,” Principal Arty Tillett said. “It’s a life-changing experience for the students.”

Tillett, media center coordinator Susan McFarlane and journalism teacher Steve Hanf are heading up the revival of the program. There will be an interest meeting for students Thursday (May 26) in the media center during Empower Time. The partnership got its start nine years ago, when former teacher Jane Shipman applied for a grant through the state to kick off the program. After First Flight was chosen as one of the 10 schools for the grant, Shipman and Tillett traveled to China to set up the partnership.

“There’s a radical difference in how education is done,” Tillett said. “For example, the students stay in the same classroom all day while the teachers leave. And extracurriculars aren’t part of the academics and are done at night.”
These differences in culture and lifestyle are what the China Partnership aims to expose students to over a 10-day trip to China.

“(The students) fly from Raleigh or Norfolk to Seattle, and then fly from there to Shanghai. It’s a 16-hour flight,” Tillett said.

On the trip, students will stay with a host exchange family for three days, one of which they will spend going to school with the host students. The host students will also take the First Flight students around the community they live in for a firsthand view of life half a world away. For the remaining three days, the students will tour famous sites such as the Great Wall of China and Shanghai.

This 10-day trip comes with a reasonable but still hefty price tag: $1,800. However, Tillett is adamant that any student who wishes to will be able to participate.

“The goal is that this will not be based on socioeconomic status and whose parents can afford the experience,” Tillett said. “We want to fundraise and have donations from the community to make it available to all students.”

On the other side of the partnership, Meicun will send students to stay with host families on the Outer Banks before they travel up the East Coast. McFarlane, who has hosted students for her children in the past, spoke about how everyone who participated got something unique out of it.

Her experience is one of the reasons she wanted to help rekindle the partnership.

“Some of them kept in touch afterwards. For some of them it was just a one-time experience. But it was great to experience all the different things,” McFarlane said. “I had a great time – I hosted for two years – just providing the opportunity.”

The leaders of the effort will begin distributing applications for the partnership before the end of the current school year. Tillett plans to make the applications criteria-based on a student’s interest and fit for the partnership.

“We’ll ask why you want to take part, and it will take some training and education culturally about things you need to know to visit China,” Tillett explained. “There’ll also be a grade expectation, as well as an expectation for some follow-up work processing, seeding and sharing information for the next group of kids.”

Also, for the first time, Manteo High School and Cape Hatteras Secondary School will be taking part in the partnership, which will allow for more students to be both sent and hosted.

“The Chinese school has about 3,000 students,” Tillett said. “Having all of Dare County participate will equalize the number.”

The China Partnership hopes to establish an avenue for students to expand their minds and gain a whole new perspective on the world, as well as make friends that come from an entirely different culture.

“They’re very kind, friendly – fascinated with the U.S. and the mystery of the West,” Tillett said. “It’s truly a life-changing experience.”

Junior Sarah Skinner can be reached at [email protected].