Metro International Launches Global Classroom in the Community
A Pilot Program Funded in Part by The Henry Luce Foundation
Metro International Brings Global Perspectives to NYC Kids and Families

New York City, March 15, 2002 - On Saturday, March 16, Metro International will launch its 2002 Global Classroom in the Community program series with "Exploring Culture and Community: A Hunt at the Brooklyn Museum of Art." This half day event is designed to bring international university students from around the world together with Brooklyn middle schoolers and their families to traverse the halls of the Brooklyn Museum for a Scavenger Hunt in an effort to facilitate global understanding. Participating in the scavenger hunt will be Fulbright scholars and other international undergraduate and graduate students from more than 10 countries, including Azerbaijan, Colombia, Japan, Macedonia, and Sweden.

This activity is part of Metro International's Global Classroom in the Community, which brings international speakers into District 13's Satellite West and Satellite III Academies to do presentations about their countries and cultures. Funded, in part, by The Henry Luce Foundation, Global Classroom in the Community also facilitates interaction and dialogue among the participating students, their families, and international students through community programs. In the aftermath of September 11, this person-to-person diplomacy is more important than ever.

"Although New York is one of the most diverse cities in the world, many children never travel beyond their own neighborhood. The Global Classroom in the Community program changes young people's understanding of the larger world, and even of the kids from other cultural backgrounds a few blocks away. It prepares them to thrive in New York City and to compete in the global marketplace," said Margaret Shiba, Executive Director of Metro International, an organization that builds cross-cultural understanding through programs that connect international students and New Yorkers.

Metro International's Global Classroom is a year-round program that brings Fulbright scholars and international students into classrooms throughout the five boroughs, under the terms of a contract with New York City Board of Education.

Schedule
10:30 AM ­ Scavenger Hunt begins from the main lobby of the Brooklyn Museum of Art (200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY.)

1:00 PM ­ Group lunch at the Museum Café

About Metro International (www.metrointl.org)
Metro International creates global learning opportunities for students, educators, and the community, in New York City and beyond. Metro was founded in 1977 to provide international undergraduate and graduate students with a bridge between their isolated campus environments and the broader New York community. Today Metro International's programs and services promote interaction between international visitors and New Yorkers in settings as diverse as local neighborhoods, school classrooms, businesses, and cultural institutions. Metro serves as the officially-designated coordinator of enrichment programs for visiting Fulbright scholars in New York and is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in providing substantive and innovative educational programming.