November 24, 2013

Greetings:

And welcome to our third edition of Focus on the World, a special issue of our weekly Swain Stories e-newsletter. In it we'll bring you news of our global studies initiatives - enjoy!

Junior Model United Nations

 

This year Swain will be providing an exciting opportunity for sixth grade students!  With the help of our Global Studies grant from the Borgenicht Foundation, 17 sixth grade students will be participating in a Student Diplomat Program/ Junior Model United Nations through the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia.    

 

Over a five month period, beginning in January 2014, they will be introduced to the world of international relations and cultural diplomacy.

 

Students will examine global conflicts and trends while working together to create promising solutions to these challenges on the following three topics chosen by the World Affairs Council:  the refugee crisis in Syria, gender inequality and economic development and the global arms trade.   

 

Guided by faculty advisors Todd Stansbery and Dina Kovats-Bernat, our students will do research, write position papers and proposals, and participate in three conferences in Philadelphia with 600 other middle school students from the greater Philadelphia area.  Look for more information on their progress in the months to come!

 

Trick or Treat for UNICEF

 

A big "THANK YOU" goes out to all families that participated in the Trick or Treat for UNICEF fundraiser.   

 

As a school community we raised $700.24, exceeding our goal of $500!   

 

With this money, UNICEF will be able to purchase a pump that provides clean water to a village or school, in addition to providing necessary vaccines and protein supplements for children around the world.  We, as a community, can all feel good knowing we are helping children around the world live healthier, happy lives.

 

Global travels

 

The Lower School students have enjoyed two recent visits - one to Pakistan, courtesy of Preschool assistant teacher Batool Viqar who was born and raised there, and a second to Germany. Carol Burns, Director of Communications, recently had the opportunity to visit Germany for a week.

 

Mrs. Viqar shared demographic information about Pakistan, including its size, location, climate, and geography. She also had some beautiful items from Pakistan which she displayed on a table for all to enjoy (right), including a small model of a rickshaw, a mode of transportation in Pakistan.

We were also happy to welcome her Preschool students to the Lower School Town Meeting - they were a great audience!   

 

Before hearing from Mrs. Burns, several of our first grade students shared some interesting facts about Germany which they had learned in their recent study of that country.

 

Then Mrs. Burns told about her trip, sharing photos of the autobahn (highway system), castles ("schloss" in German), food, a grocery store, flower shop, and other sites.

 

She also shared this photo (left), of padlocks placed on protruding rings on a bridge in Heidelberg - people in love do this to ensure their love will never come apart. We all thought this to be an interesting custom!  

 

Thanks and have a great week! 

 

1100 South 24th Street    Allentown, PA 18103
610-433-4542

1100 South 24th Street

Allentown, Pennsylvania 18103