TSA welcomes students from Finland
As part of the Transatlantic Classrooms program exchange, on Monday, April 29, TSA welcomed the Finnish students and teachers who so graciously hosted them in Finland this past February. Learn more. The Finnish students were kept busy, attending classes during the week and presenting their social action projects to the entire school. They also learned about Vermont and the region. They hiked Mt. Cardigan, learned about maple sugaring at Silloway Maple, saw baby lambs, bowled, and visited the Norwich Farmers Market. On Thursday, May 2, they toured the Vermont Statehouse, Ben and Jerry’s, and the Cabot Cheese Store.
The group started at the statehouse in Montpelier where the state archivist gave students a tour. They saw both the state senate and the house chambers. On the floor of the house, they heard additional information about the statehouse from our local representative Jim Masland, of Thetford. Thank you, Jim, for sharing your insights on democracy and chandeliers alike! After the tour, students were able to slip into committee chambers and listen to the proceedings of various committees before meeting with the Lt. Governor, David Zuckerman. In his office, the Lt. Governor listened to the students share their projects, and asked them questions about the future of both our society and the broader world in the context of the UN sustainability goals they had worked on.
After lunch in small groups at various restaurants in Montpelier, the group headed up to Waterbury to tour the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory and taste some free samples. They then sampled products from Cabot cheese and Lake Champlain chocolates before heading home.
A few students stopped off at the whales’ tails in Randolph for an end-of-day photo.
It was another memorable day during a very memorable week with our friends from Finland. The TSA students who were part of the exchange program enjoyed hosting and sharing our Vermont culture with the visitors but the entire school benefited from having the visitors in classes and on campus. Because TSA is in a rural part of a small state, this kind of cultural exchange provides an important opportunity to broaden perspectives.
This program would not have been possible without the support of several grants and donations. The Transatlantic Classrooms Program sponsored by the Finnish Ministry of Education and the US Embassy in Finland provided the primary grant for this exchange. The collaboration between The Sharon Academy and Sibelius-lukio, one of 20 international collaborations chosen, is one of the few given enough funds to facilitate student travel. Additional funding to ensure that all TSA students were able to travel for free was provided by grants from The Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation, coordinated by the Bread Loaf Teacher Network at Middlebury College, VT’s Most Promising Jobs initiative through the McClure Foundation, the Bethel and Randolph Rotary Clubs, and a private donation.
To learn more about the program, follow the students on Instagram at tsa_goes_to_finland or read their blog
