RHS students gain new perspectives at global classroom conference in Sweden.

There's a story in today's Ridgewood News about a group of eight Ridgewood High School students who traveled to Sweden recently to participate in the annual Global Classroom Conference. They spent 10 days working with students from around the world on issues of sustainability, meeting in small groups, making presentations on research tasks and sharing ideas from different perspectives.

It's great to see the opportunities that RHS students have to expand their high school experience. As the story in the Ridgewood News mentions, this type of trip is more like the things you do in college. Great program for Ridgewood. Previously our students traveled to the Shetland Islands for the conference and one year students from around the world came to Ridgewood as the conference was held here.

Click here for the full story.

Host families needed for students attending Global Classroom Conference in Ridgewood June 9-18

Ridgewood High School is the only North American High School involved in the Global Learning Classroom project. Our students collaborate with students from Sweden, Japan, Cape Town South Africa, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic and the Shetland Islands on a themed topic each year. The year of collaborative study culminates in a student-led conference in June in a host country. This year, Ridgewood is the host, which is quite an international honor.

Right now, the RHS coordinators for the Conference are signing up families to host students from around the world. 50 families are needed. Each family is asked to host two (2) students (or a single teacher chaperone) from June 9 to June 18.

The students need a place to sleep, shower and receive some meals. The home stay provides them with an opportunity to experience, first hand, American family life. Students will sleep in sleeping bags and do not expect extraordinary or fancy accommodations. Friendship is the key.

All of the students are motivated learners and will be traveling with teacher chaperones. They will be kept fairly busy during their time in Ridgewood, with a pre-set schedule, although there will be some free time to spend with host families.

This truly is a memorable experience of a lifetime for Ridgewood families, who will have the opportunity to get to know teens from other countries and share a little bit of Ridgewood.

For more information or if you would like to sign up to be a host, please contact Principal Jack Lorenz's secretary, Julie Beites, at Julie Beites at jbeites@ridgewood.k12.nj.us.

Click here to read more about the Global Classroom Conference at RHS.