Just days before Patton High School's first Model United Nations competition, the team and a few students engaged in a videoconference via Skype with students in Brazil.
Burke County Public Schools Superintendent Art Stellar said the U.S. Department of Education contacted the school system and asked for its participation in the videoconference.
Stellar had visited Brazil in August for three weeks on a Fulbright exchange program. Later that fall several Brazilian principals visited Patton High School.
Stellar said because of the principals' visit and the Model UN's upcoming competition, he chose Patton for the video conference.
Approximately 20 students from ninth to 12th grade and the Model UN team participated in the conference with high school students at Casa Thomas Jefferson students, the Binational Center in Brazil.
United States Deputy Secretary of Education Anthony Wilder Miller started the question and answer session with a question about technology in education, the general theme for the video conferences.
Patton student Emily San Miguel said Internet-connected computers are an essential technology for learning today.
One of the Brazilian students said having access to an Internet connection is useful for finding information that isn't readily available in particular editions of reference materials.
The students went on to question each other about their respective social cultures, music, volunteerism, environmentalism, education and politics.
Shortly after a discussion about public health care, a technical glitch that cut the video feed from Patton for about a minute was met with a groan followed immediately by excited chatter about the conference.
"It was getting interesting," one student exclaimed.
Miller brought the exchange to a close by thanking all the participants and encouraging the use of technology in classrooms.
"What you're doing today is the shape of the future," Miller said.
Patton Principal Tim Davis said students today are learning through technology, not books. Through the Internet, students can go to places and events they wouldn't otherwise be able to.
Moderator and Model UN advisor Amy Vaughn said she was over the moon about the event.
"(The videoconference) gives students a very real experience with students who see the world in a different way," Vaughn said after the conference.
The Model UN team is taking four representatives to Chapel Hill on Friday for their first competition.
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