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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: 14 November 2006 SUBJECT: Denmark Adult Students Explore The Good Hope School
Today The Good Hope School was visited by 25 Danish adult students, looking for more than the average Caribbean tourist. Folk high schools are a unique educational system set up in the mid 1800's in Denmark, where adults seek liberal humanities-focused education to broaden their community's intellectual, cultural and spiritual growth. The Danish College for Seniors, a folk high school in Denmark, has a group of 25 adult students visiting St. Croix. The group spent five days in August in a cultural immersion class at the college to prepare them for their visit. Per Nielsen, a Professor at University of Copenhagen, and a renowned historian with The Museum of Copenhagen, specializing in Latin and Caribbean culture, is their tour guide. The Friends of Denmark (FOD) on St. Croix assists with the annual group visits. Today, Nina York with FOD, brought the group to The Good Hope School where Good Hope Senior, Kai Nielsen; Juniors, Chahney Hinds and Jennifer Nelthropp; Sophomore, David Dawiskiba; and Middle School students, Tre Hansen, Shenique Jeremiah, and Nyasia Santiago, led the group through their school. The students shared their experiences with the Danish visitors and answered many questions about school and life on St. Croix. The guests were delighted to walk into two classrooms where the faculty members greeted them in familiar tongue. Cat Austin Franks, Good Hope's Kindergarten teacher who speaks fluent Danish, and Mark Jackson, Middle School Social Studies teacher, who speaks Norwegian, excited both guests and their own students as multiculturalism came to life for the entire group. When asked why one of the students selected St. Croix out of many other international travel options, she responded, "I had a dream to come here, it is not only great to be in the islands but this place has a history that connects us." Denmark and St. Croix have a rich history dating back to the beginning of Danish control in 1671, still visible in the community's everyday life. Students from The Good Hope School and The Danish College for Seniors now have a first hand reference to that connection. The tour ended with a gift from the group to Good Hope's library of Surveys in 1961 on St. Thomas and St. Croix by Thorkel Dahl and Kjeld de Fine Licht Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School . The book presents surveys from architects and students on a trip to the West Indies to register towns and architecture of the former Danish Colonies.
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