Visiting Huaxia Girls' School in Beijing



Of course, no trip to Beijing would be complete without a visit to our sister school, Huaxia Girls' School. Huaxia administrators were kind enough to invite Mr. Miller of NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools)  and me (Ms. Nipp) to spend the day at Huaxia after we finished with our duties at the educational conference. We were treated royally by Huaxia (as always) and we so appreciated the opportunity to spend a day with our old (and new) Beijing friends.

 



 

Paul Miller and Cecilia Nipp with Huaxia administrators, Huang Jie, Hong and Wang Lei.

Enjoying student photos that were taken over the October National Day Holiday

Ms. Nipp pretending to be a Huaxia student in "Driving Simulation" class

Huaxia friends who recently visited UA

Huaxia Girls' School

The roof top greenhouse at Huaxia

School Administrator Hong took us to buy tea (this is Jasmine tea - so fragrant and fabulous!)

Our day ended with a spectacular meal of traditional Peking Duck

ACA Secondary School International Summit, Beijing



This past weekend, I had the honor of speaking at the ACA Secondary School International Summit in Beijing. The summit was part of the 2012 China Annual Conference for International Education which was sponsored by the China Education Association for International Exchange in collaboration with the National Association of Independent Schools (Ursuline Academy of Dallas is a member of NAIS).

 

The Conference was a fantastic event which brought together educators from all over the world including China, the USA, Australia and Canada. The theme of the Secondary School Summit was "Aspiration, Challenge, Action! Education shapes the World: Exploration and Practices in Secondary School Education Internationalization."

 



I spoke as part of a panel on "Diversified Student Exchange Programs." The main topic of my presentation was Ursuline's long-standing educational and cultural exchange with Huaxia Girls' School of Beijing. The talk was very well received and many congratulated Ursuline on the long history and success of our very special relationship with Huaxia. 

 

Paul Miller, Global Programs Director for NAIS, and I (Ms. Nipp) on the first day of the Conference

Mr. Miller made a presentation about the importance of students learning IN the world

Making my presentation about Ursuline & Huaxia 

 

Posing with fellow panel member, Ben Adams of Duke University  

We learned so much about international education from the perspective of many different countries

There was a lovely banquet reception to honor the more than 1000 conference attendees

 

UA Seniors attend Speaker Luncheon

Ursuline Seniors with Roxane Farmanfarmaian

 

Last week, four of our Ursuline seniors had the privilege of attending a very special luncheon sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Dallas / Ft. Worth. The speaker at the luncheon was Dr. Roxane Farmanfarmaian, a specialist on Iran, Iraq and Middle East policy and author of Blood and Oil: A Prince's Memoir of Iran, from the Shah to the Ayatollah. Dr. Farmanfarmaian was a very captivating and informative speaker and our students were honored to meet her after the luncheon.

 

UA students, these types of opportunities are open to all interested UA students and particularly to those who have joined the Junior World Affairs Council Club (aka "Jr. WACS"). Please see Mr. Hoyle, Ms. Middendorf or Ms. Nipp for more information about this wonderful student club!

 



 

Serving the Community Together

Serviam, Latin for "I will serve"  is the motto and philosophy which binds all Ursuline schools together. So, in the spirit of Serviam, we set out with Ursuline Dallas and Ursuline Ilheus students to the North Texas Food Bank last Thursday for a day of sorting and organizing donated food. It was hard work but, at the end of the day, we knew that we had helped to make a small difference in the lives of many north Texas families in need.



 

UA Dallas juniors join the Brazil Delegation for a day at The North Texas Food Bank

Blair, Lane & Lucas packing family meal boxes

Packaging and Sorting LOTS of boxes!

Lucas helped out with some heavy lifting

A rare relaxing moment during the afternoon

The result from all of the day's volunteers :)!  

Brazilians enjoy school days at UA

The students from Brazil have been with us for almost a week and we have especially enjoyed having them on our campus and in classes. Here are a few of our favorite moments at UA:  

 

Touring the UA campus and learning about the FFC's LEED certified status

Bruno greets UA over the PA system

An interview with The Bear Facts Newspaper Class

Art class - making a painting with American & Brazilian symbols

 

With the Newspaper Class

Showing off the finished product with UA's Sculpture class

 

Printmaking with Mr. Thompson

A special Texas souvenir made in Printmaking class

 

Bem Vindos! Welcome to Ursuline Dallas!



The Brazilians are here! Yesterday was such a joyful day as we welcomed a delegation from our sister school, Instituto Nossa Senhora da Piedade in Ilheus, Brazil.  As you can see, the excitement upon their arrival was "epic." The Brazilians have brought a whole new spirit of friendship and fun to our school community. This delightful group of 6 girls and 3 boys will be with us until October 17. 

 

 



The host students wait for their friends at DFW

Mary & Lucas, new Ursuline brother & sister

 The students visited Williams Square in Las Colinas on their way from DFW

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Honey Buns and friends cheer as the group arrived at UA

Instant friends

Such excitement!

 

Ms. Bourgeois and Ms. Kane officially welcome the group at St. Ursula's

 

Honey Buns presented each guest with an Ursuline gift

After a busy day, teachers Ramayana and Ines enjoy a "Welcome to Texas" taco

Quick turn around...

Still recovering from our tears at saying goodbye to Huaxia, we quickly had to transform our panda-filled school into a welcoming tropical environment in honor of our upcoming guests from Brazil. We enlisted the help of our friends at Balloons Everyday in the building of a balloon rain forest in the Sophomore lounge. After all, we want our guests to feel at home.

Critical to the welcome process are the GAGAS, aka Girls Assisting Global Awareness. The GAGAS are the club which always helps us to welcome our guests by making signs, banners, chalk art, etc. They are a huge help with hospitality and we love having their help and support. GAGAS membership is open to all UA students and new members are always welcome.

The GAGAs hard at work making signs after school

The fabulous Balloon Rain Forest

The GAGAS are talented chalk artists 

The Nipp / Ross Advisory tests out the newly installed balloon Rain Forest

Making the WELCOME banner - we're almost ready!!

Applications for SDLC are available this week!

UA Students, take note! Applications are now available in the Global Village for the Annual Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) which is part of the annual People of Color Conference (POCC) sponsored by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). This year, POCC will be held in Houston from December 6-8. All Ursuline students interested in issues of Diversity and Leadership should apply. We plan to take 8 students to this wonderful conference this year. Please see Ms. Nipp, Ms. Estes or Ms. Haley for more information. Applications are due back by Friday, October 12.   

 A look back at UA students at POCC / SDLC 2008 in the great city of New Orleans

A fond (and sad) farewell to our Huaxia sisters

Friday, the last day with our sisters from Beijing, came much too quickly. Our farewell started with "a party" , aka "a talent show" , in which both schools performed beautifully. The idea is that we each wanted to show our appreciation of and affection for the other school. After an exchange of gifts between our schools, it was time to walk over to St. Ursula's for one last activity (evaluations and reflections of our time together). And then we had to say goodbye ... It was, as you can imagine, very sad. Sabrina F. did her best to cheer up the other UA students by saying that she was also very sad when she left Beijing last Spring but she got to see her Chinese sister again here in Dallas and she knows she will see her again in the future.  Her words were a comfort but the tears still flowed....

It was a fantastic, flawless and all-too-short visit. Now we want to look ahead because we have been invited to Beijing in the Spring - Of course, we can't wait to be together again!   

The Ursuline Gal Pals were a huge hit!

Playing the flute, so beautifully, for UA
 

Jesse P. stunned all of us with her amazing hula hoop talent - Huaxia loved it!

Rachel & Luna, friends and sisters!

Katie and Xiaodi - so sweet!

Please don't go!!

One last hug

We just didn't want to let go ....