Metro International Takes Brooklyn Middle School Students Around the World To Celebrate International Education Week 2002
Metro International Brings Global Perspectives to NYC Kids and Families

New York City, November 13, 2002 - On Thursday, November 21, more than 100 children from three specially selected middle schools in Brooklyn's Community School District 13 will simulate a journey around the world through Metro International's Go Global: An International Education Fair. In observance of International Education Week 2002, Go Global will bring together middle school students and teachers with Fulbright scholars, international graduate students, and diplomatic officials representing 20 different countries.

Metro's Go Global: An International Education Fair seeks to raise awareness and stimulate interest in international education. Participating middle school students will get their "passports" stamped during stops at individual country booths staffed by visiting Fulbright scholars and other international students. Students will also have an opportunity to meet representatives from foreign consulates and UN missions, who will speak about the value of studying foreign languages and learning about world cultures.

This event will also celebrate the start of Metro International's 2002­2003 Global Classroom in the Community program, which brings trained international speakers into District 13 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 a variety of community programs at Brooklyn cultural institutions.

"Although New York is one of the most diverse cities in the world, many children never travel beyond their own neighborhood. Global Classroom 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, the organization which sponsors Global Classroom in all five boroughs under the terms of a contract with the New York City Department of Education.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Secretary of Education Rod Paige have called for the celebration of the third annual International Education Week, November 18-22, 2002, in an effort to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future international leaders from to study in the United States. Secretary of State Powell has commented, "As we work to end the scourge of terrorism, let us also work to increase peace, prosperity and democracyŠ.People-to-people diplomacy, created through international education and exchanges, is critical to our national interest."

Schedule
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm ­ "Trip Around the World" (Student Union, Pratt Institute, 200 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.)

About Metro International (www.metrointl.org)
Metro International Program Services of New York, Inc. creates global learning opportunities for students, educators, and the community in New York City and beyond. Metro's array of educational services and outreach programs promote interaction between international students and the residents of New York in settings as diverse as local neighborhoods, school classrooms, business, and cultural institutions. Metro serves as the officially-designated coordinator of enrichment programs for visiting Fulbright students and scholars in the New York area and is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in providing substantive and innovative educational programming.