By ELLA MOSCO- At the beginning of the 2021 school year, 17 teachers from 10 different countries with FDAI came to IUP and partnered with IHS teachers to learn about the American school system.

 For 6 weeks every Wednesday, the Scholars sat in classrooms and observed the teachers’ lessons and the students. 

The Scholars had a chance to present to some classes and explain a little bit about their culture and how their culture works. They also gave the students a chance to ask questions. The questions included things like, how they teach in their schools, different classes they offer, and anything relating to their culture. 

The Cultural Fair offered the opportunity to meet each scholar to listen and learn about their cultures through a presentation they prepared. Earlier in the day, younger students from the local elementary schools had the opportunity to have this great experience. 

 Jillian Ranes commented on this opportunity by stating, “My experience with the Fulbright teachers has been amazing so far. I love learning about everyone’s different cultures! I loved the Cultural Fair. It was very interesting to learn so much in a short amount of time.” 

During the fair, students could pick the cultures that they wanted to visit and go and learn about them. The individual setups consisted of different clothing, examples of foods, maps, photos of famous landmarks and cultural celebrations, and more. Some played games, let you try on different traditional outfits, and the elementary students got the chance to try different foods. 

“My favorite culture was probably China, I love the culture and always wanted to go there,” added Ranes.“I learned most about Arabian culture the most,” said Freshman Hunter Decker. 

Our school has a new perspective of different cultures. Every year we all get exposed to more culture as more and more scholars come from different parts of the world. It is unique to be able to understand the cultures from around the world. The IHS students were lucky enough to have this great experience. Everyone gained some cultural knowledge thanks to the scholars.