Denzel Washington Students Virtually Meet Their Peers In China

MOUNT VERNON, NY — It's a small world especially when you have friends around the globe, like these spirited Mount Vernon students.

After a year of communicating with students at the Jingling Primary School in China, sixth graders at the Denzel Washington School of the Arts (DWSA) finally had the opportunity to meet their counterparts via a Zoom call on Wednesday.

The school district said that through One World’s Global Connection program, DWSA students worked on several projects with the students from the sister school in China. They created "all about me" projects, where the students introduced themselves to each other. DWSA students also designed life-sized portraits to share with the Jinling students. The sixth graders also created Chinese restaurant concepts and menus, shared videos of their stage performances, and wrote to the children at the Chinese school.

The Zoom meetup was the culmination of all those lessons. DWSA students greeted the students in China with, "Nǐhǎo!" and their discussions began. During the chat, students from both countries commented on the work and performances of their sister school and asked questions about life in the other country.

"The students had the opportunity to immerse themselves in a culture in ways that maybe the internet or reading in a textbook wouldn’t allow," DWSA teacher Michelle Atterberry said. "They were able to learn something that they wouldn’t necessarily get to do on their own."

The students at DWSA said they saw similarities and found common ground when speaking about activities they like, including K-pop and video games. When a Chinese student said the name of the K-pop band they like, the classroom at DWSA erupted with students in agreement. One student at DWSA also played the same game, Hongkai Star Rail, as a student at Jingling. Another student showed his guitar to a Chinese student who also plays guitar.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to interact with the kids from China, and it was really nice to learn about their culture and what they like," DWSA sixth grader Camryn Chisolm said. "I saw that a lot of them love performing, but they also have stage fright. I’m pretty sure a lot of us, including myself, at Denzel Washington have stage fright, but we still push through it just like them. And they’re very creative just like us."

Students and teachers ended the Zoom call by expressing their hopes for a continuation of the partnership next year with the potential for in-person meeting in the future.