The Asian American Cultural Exchange (AACE) course provides high school students in Windham Southeast and Southwest Supervisory Unions in southern Vermont the opportunity to learn about Asia through direct contacts with Asian students. AACE is an educational opportunity for high school students from southern Vermont and Kunming, China to learn about each others’ cultures. This course is interdisciplinary in nature and will be offered in a hybrid format – through weekly face to face class meetings and asynchronous class meetings through the Internet. Students will use a wide variety of technologies and learning environments. They will make extensive use of Internet resources and will be required to produce web content for other students to view and learn from.

Vermont students will meet their Asian counterparts first online and then in person during the course trip to China. This year the course will focus on China and include a three week visit to China in April. A maximum of twenty students will be selected for the class. The lead instructors for the exchange course are Gary Blomgren, Brattleboro Union High School, Christine Simpson and Susan Sopper, Twin Valley High School. Steve Perrin, Vice Principal, BUHS is a chaperone on the trip. Lisa Brooks (TVHS) is tech support for the course.

A Freeman Foundation grant generously supports this project. Students are required to raise additional moneys to help cover the expense of the trip to China. Mary Greene is the Director of the Asian American Cultural Exchange program, email: mary_greene@wsesu.org