Bridging Worlds… Through the Children Part I

Part II >>

The second-graders at the Mary E. Dardess Elementary School in Chatham have succeeded in doing something that even Italy’s powerful President, Silvio Berlusconi, has not yet been able to accomplish—building a bridge between the island of Sicily and the outside world. To Berlusconi, the bridge would be a physical one, connecting Messina, Sicily to the main Italian peninsula. It’s a project that has been dreamed about for centuries. The Chatham-Sicily bridge, by contrast, was on a spontaneous people-to-people basis through the magic of modern telecommunications.

Chatham students were able to link up with fellow second-graders in distant Sicily through an intermediary—their classmate, seven-year old Chiara Lucia Perni. Chiara (pronounced key’ah-rah) attended kindergarten and first grade in Sicily, the place she calls home. She was born in Seattle to Sally Veillette, a Chatham native, and spends her young life going back and forth between her grandparents’ New Concord home and Italy. She is here this year to master her English.

Little Chiara spans both worlds, stumbling at times. During the first particularly cold winter morning here, she called out, “Hey, Mom, there’s frosting all over that hill! Look!” When her lips turned red and sore, she announced, “My lips are chopped,” reaching for her “chopstick.” Yes, bridging two worlds is often entertaining, too.

When it became Chiara’s turn to be Student of the Week at Mrs. Sandy Lynn’s MED class, she proposed an audio-visual connection between her former Italian and current Chatham classmates—via Skype.

Picture the scene. Chiara’s new classmates huddled around the computer in their classroom, while her old friends were using the computer at her home in Sicily (due to the six-hour time difference, the Sicilian schools had already closed… and few of her friends have home computers). Imagine the emotions that filled this little girl as she introduced her new friends to her Italian amiche di cuore (“friends of the heart”) via webcams bridging two diverse worlds, while she was translating.

After an awkward beginning, the Chatham children warmed up, then introduced themselves, one by one, asking lots of questions. The Sicilian children were more shy, this being the first time “off the island” for some. The Sicilian mothers were thrilled, eyes riveted, as the webcam toured, step-by-step, wall-by-wall, through the well-equipped American classroom—glimpsing, live, the American approach to education, and understanding more fully the nature of the experience for Chiara. Mrs. Lynn’s classroom even has two gerbils in it, going round and round on their wheel.

“The call was fun,” commented classmate Ally Hogencamp, “I’ve never had the chance to talk with people from another country before.”

“It was kinda cool,” commented Brendon Everett.

Young Savanna Jennings chimed in, “We got to see Chiara’s friends. They’re really interesting… next time I want to ask them what their school is like.”

“I liked seeing my friends again, too,” said Chiara, “and to let all my friends know each other.”

“I liked the person taking pictures,” Taylor Falkner noted, referring to school photographer John Mason’s presence. Yes, pride transcends borders, and is built-up by events such as these.

Tessa Fisher enjoyed singing to the Sicilian children. The Sicilian kids did, too, and for the second call, they prepared a song of their own to share with the Chatham students. They wanted to make a bella figura—a good impression—on their American counterparts.

To continue… Part II

Sally M. Veillette
sally@handsonsicily.com