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A journey of a thousand miles

| 22 Apr 2013 | 04:36
    Among the places the Orange County students visited was Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where in the spring of 1989, student-led demonstrations captured the attention of the world for more than seven weeks before the Chinese government ordered the military to disperse the crowds with assault rifles and tanks.
    Among the places the Orange County students visited was Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where in the spring of 1989, student-led demonstrations captured the attention of the world for more than seven weeks before the Chinese government ordered the military to disperse the crowds with assault rifles and tanks.
    Behind the 18 students from Orange County stands the Great Wall of China.
    Behind the 18 students from Orange County stands the Great Wall of China.
    Monroe-Woodbury High School student Kristen Incle, left, and other members of the group participated in a Taiji lesson. Taiji combines traditional Chinese healing arts with the principle of Chinese martial arts.
    Monroe-Woodbury High School student Kristen Incle, left, and other members of the group participated in a Taiji lesson. Taiji combines traditional Chinese healing arts with the principle of Chinese martial arts.
    The Orange County students pose in front of the Temple of Heaven, a complex of religious buildings situated in the southeastern part of Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. It was constructed from 1406 to 1420 - or more than 72 years before Columbus set sail for the Americas.
    The Orange County students pose in front of the Temple of Heaven, a complex of religious buildings situated in the southeastern part of Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. It was constructed from 1406 to 1420 - or more than 72 years before Columbus set sail for the Americas.
    From left to right are Grant Gottwig of Goshen, Adam Mandel of Warwick and Aaron Goyzueta, also of Goshen, display various types of headwear during a bus trip while the students were in China.
    From left to right are Grant Gottwig of Goshen, Adam Mandel of Warwick and Aaron Goyzueta, also of Goshen, display various types of headwear during a bus trip while the students were in China.

GOSHEN — On March 22, 18 students from six school districts in Orange County set out for an eight-day tour of Beijing, China.

The majority of the students were hoping to practice their skills in Chinese as the culmination of many years of study in the Orange-Ulster BOCES distance-learning Mandarin Chinese program.

In Beijing, the students visited the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, the Temple of Heaven Park and the 798 Dashanzi Modern Art Zone.

In Badaling, the students climbed the Great Wall and marveled at its construction and history.

Highlights also included a lesson in Taiji, which combines traditional Chinese healing arts with the principle of Chinese martial arts and a visit to a local school, where our students delivered small gifts to the Chinese middle school students and played pick-up basketball games.

Other special events included a rickshaw tour of the Hutong and traditional Chinese meal with a Hutong family, a Peking duck dinner, participation in a tea ceremony, visits to a pearl and silk factory and Kung-Fu and Acrobatics shows.

The last evening, many students dared to taste some of the more exotic foods such as live scorpions and silkworms.

The students who participated in this journey were:

Chester Academy
Elise Bukowski
Kathryn Jankelunas

Goshen High School
Grant Gottwig

Aaron Goyzueta
Zach Mayfield
George F. Baker High School in Tuxedo

Jessica Bach
Heather Mazzi
Rebecca Moon

Minisink Valley
Alexandria Sasso

Monroe-Woodbury High School
Druss Arnold

Emily Casazza
Kristen Incle
Hannah Robinson

AJ Siehien
Warwick
Ava Lillian
Alexa Petrassi

Bridget Scheinert
Adam Mandel
Transportation to and from Newark Airport was handled by West Point Tours and the tour itself was conducted by EF, Inc., an international student tour organization.

EF group leader Elisabeth Hellwege, a Cornwall resident and business teacher at Monroe-Woodbury High School, organized the trip last fall. She said the many of the students used money they had earned from part-time jobs, as well as financial help from their parents, to cover their own expenses.

Hellwege’s adult children - Samantha Hellwege, a graduate student at Baruch College, and Benjamin Hellwege, a PhD candidate at the Graduate School at CUNY - helped to supervise the tour.