Alumni & Friends
Simpson-Temple Cultural Exchange Program
The 2009 Simpson-Temple Cultural Exchange program, which was funded by Temple alumna Carol Zahn Booth, ’47, allowed two duos of students from Temple and Simpson College, respectively, to switch places and experience different cultural settings. The students--Briana McCoy and Ashley Williams of Temple and Betsy Knudsen and Luke Weber of Simpson in Indianola, IA—attended school, taught elementary school students and lived in areas that were culturally disparate from the settings in which they were raised. Such a shock in setting allowed for intimate cross-cultural experiences that revealed important lessons about life and education to the students involved.
Each two week session at Temple and Simpson involved instruction, such as classes on youth culture at Temple and human relations at Simpsion; teaching experiences at the General George Meade Elementary School in Philadelphia and The Downtown School, a non-graded elementary school in Des Moines, IA; and cultural, historical or tourism activities, such as trips to a Phillies game, Independence Hall, the Franklin Institute and the Black Holocaust Museum of Slavery in Philadelphia, and a hot air balloon ride, a scenic railroad, an opera, horseback riding and a night spent around a campfire and in a cabin at a camp/retreat center.
The students found that urban schools face the same issues as schools in Iowa: some children not reading at their grade levels, home and parental issues, and children interrupting class to draw attention to themselves.
"We had the same issues with kids in Philadelphia," says Temple student Ashley Williams. "That commonality is very important. It helped all of us to see that kids are kids. The only thing that's different is their surroundings and what they look like."
To fund a new or existing program that addresses your educational interests, please contact Susie Suh, Director, Institutional Advancement, at 215-204-0916 or susie.suh@temple.edu.
