belonging
THE DERRYFIELD SCHOOL
WINTER 2017
BUILDING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS Global trips and exchange programs are not new; Derryfield students have been venturing abroad since the early days of the school’s history. But it is only within the past decade that Derryfield has really started to build its program of international resident students, and it continues to be a focus today. In an effort to strengthen the sense of belonging with our international students and their families, Head of School Mary Carter and Associate Head of School Susan Grodman took a trip to China over spring break this year. While there, they met with families of both current Derryfield students and graduates. The goal was to build relationships, so that when families send their children around the world to attend school, they are familiar and comfortable with the school and its people.
Zhang ‘17, at Johnny’s father’s Mongolian restaurant, and, in another culinary adventure, enjoyed a private “feast” arranged by Selina Zhu’s ‘18 father, where they ate “the best Peking duck in all of Beijing.” Other trip highlights included touring the Forbidden City with Amery Jiang’s ‘16 mother. They also saw Tiananmen Square and the National Museum, and shared additional meals with the families of Kate Jiang ‘18 and Zoey Guo ‘17. Ms. Grodman and Dr. Carter returned full of positive thoughts about the growth of Derryfield’s international student program, and that one day there will be a regular exchange, with students from both countries visiting and learning about each other from the perspective of home.
Since our international students step into such a foreign environment when they arrive at Derryfield, another goal of this trip was to get a sense of what they are leaving behind culturally and figure out how to help them feel more at home. To achieve this, a more vibrant liaison program is planned, one that will help these new students better incorporate into the Derryfield community. In China, the School hopes to build a network of contact families in different cities, to be a resource for interested students, and to host events similar to the local meet and greets held here. Building connections and extending community is a long term goal. Of the trip itself, Ms. Grodman noted the graciousness of the families they visited, and how excited all of them were to share their culture. They spent time with the family of Charles (Zichong) Li ‘14, had a “magnificent” dinner with the family of Johnny (Chengyu) B e l o n g i n g : W i n t e r 2 0 17
Susan Grodman and Mary Carter with Hong Huo in the Forbidden City (top) and Lixin Zhang and Xiaoping Xi in Shanghai (above).