Westonka to Form Sister School Relationship with Beijing School

The Westonka school district is building bonds across contents.

On Nov. 7, Superintendent Kevin Borg signed a letter of intent to form a sister school relationship between the district and Beijing Middle School No. 7, Borg announced Friday.

The goal is to help students to become “active global citizens” through online information and idea exchanges. The effort aims to:

“Build an international perspective within the schools;

“Support the teaching of Mandarin Chinese in America and English in China and to continue to teach the languages in our schools; and

“Help students become citizens that are globally engaged, comfortable with diversity and prepared with the skills needed to operate effectively across cultures with different world views and belief systems.”

The sister school relationship has its roots in a trip Borg and other Westonka staff made to China in 2007 that led to the start of the Westonka Summer Institute a year later. Through the institute, groups of Mound Westonka High School students have been able to participate in two-week immersion experiences.

Then this year, Borg attended the 2013 Beijing International Forum on People-to-People Friendship.