• Belgian Exchange Program - March 18-29th 36 students, 7 teachers and 1 filmmaker will be traveling to Paris, Normandy, Brussels, Liege, Maastricht and Bastogne to learn about NC Connections in Europe, World War II an d most importantly, the EUROPEAN UNION.

This trip was made possible by a grant from European Union worth 67,000 euros ~ about $86,000 given the current conversion rate.  We were also given this award in 2007, thus becoming the first US public secondary educational institution to receive such a grant from the European Union.  Why this program?

Middle school textbooks offer little more than short paragraphs on an institution, created in response to the ravages of two world wars, that has cultivated peace and prosperity for its family of twenty-seven democratic nations.  A grant was first awarded in 2007.  The summer and fall of 2008 found me once again working furiously on the computer to write a new EU grant for 2009.  What motivated me were the eyes of the students in my classroom - those children who saw their cousins, friends, or older classmates travel to Europe in 2007 fully or partially funded through the grant.  This incredible enrichment opportunity would only happen for them if this grant were awarded.  Since 2007, resignation ("that trip is only for those rich kids") has changed to hope and a vision of the future. 

Thirty-six students, six teachers and one UNC TV filmmaker will be traveling to France and Belgium March 18-29th.  All will benefit from the grant funds in some way; however, twenty-three of those travelers will be partially or fully funded for an experience they otherwise could not afford.  The middle school group will be spending three days in Paris, visiting famous museums and monuments, traveling to Normandy to visit the American cemetery and then on to Belgium, to learn about the EU in Brussels, while staying with their pen pal families in Liege.  All of us will change our dollars to euros, cross from France to Belgium without having to show our passports and feel the everyday advantages of "open borders" initiated by the European Union.  We will also visit the EU Parliament and EU Commission in Brussels and celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Euro as well as the 52nd anniversary of the EU. We will share this learning via a video conference back to Smith Middle School on March 25th. 

Another curriculum focus is North Carolina connections in Europe as we learn about World War II. Students have already researched, created projects on and even enacted scenes about the D-Day Invasion, the Liberation of Paris, The Battle of the Bulge as well as the French and Belgian Resistance Movements. Of particular interest has been the role of the African-American soldier in General Patton's 761st all-black Tank Battalion.  Students are learning how to describe these events in French so that they can have discussions about WWII with their Belgian pen pals while visiting their school in Liege.

Related Links

1. http://smseuroex.blogspot.com/
2. http://www2.chccs.k12.nc.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=40645&PHPSESSID=f179a623208d95d7170b998695280432