Montreal and Kyiv to begin high school exchange program (06/12/05)

Montreal and Kyiv to begin high school exchange program

MONTREAL - For the first time in the province of Quebec, Royal West Academy in Montreal West has set up an exchange of high school pupils and teachers with a high school in Ukraine, the Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium. The students from Kyiv are to arrive in Montreal this September.

This exchange will involve 23 students who are 15 years old and three teachers from each school. Each group will spend at least two weeks in the other's country, students staying with students and teachers with teachers. By staying in each other's homes, it will give an opportunity for the Canadians and Ukrainians to form lasting friendships and familiarize more closely with each other's unique history, culture and language. The two-week cultural and educational program is arranged by the host school.

In Montreal, the parents, teachers and students have regular monthly meetings and organize an array of projects throughout the school year to raise the $20,000 needed to cover all the expenses for the students' unique program while in Canada. This will include cultural excursions to Ottawa and Quebec City, and visits to Montreal museums and other historic points of interest. They will also attend classes in the school to compare how school is taught in Quebec.

The high school students from Kyiv will also be taken to the annual Ukrainian festival held in Rosemount and attended by over 10,000 Montrealers. This will acquaint them with the over 100-year-old Ukrainian community in Montreal.

The cost of the air fare to Montreal is to be raised by the Kyiv high school students and their school.

The student exchange is coordinated by teacher Sidney Westlake, with the assistance of Jill Lang and Doug Floen of Royal West Academy in Montreal, a public, French immersion high school with 830 students. The pupils are mostly English-speaking, however, they take various courses in French, in addition to French language classes, in order to become bilingual. It is a public school which resembles a private school in that entry is competitive, there is a uniform and academic results are very good. In the school's 20th century history course, the teaching of the 1932-1933 Famine-Genocide is included along with the documentary "Harvest of Despair."

The Ukrainian community in Montreal has taken an active interest in this exchange, and various organizations, including the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Ukrainian Professional and Business Association, and individuals have financially contributed to help alleviate some of the costs involved for the hosting Royal West families.

In the past, Royal West Academy organized student exchanges with Moscow, Rouen in France, Nymburk in the Czech Republic, London, Berlin, Warsaw, Rome and other cities.

Since Ukraine's renewed independence, the curtain has finally opened up to Ukrainian students invited by schools in the West. Not too long ago, this type of exchange would have been impossible for Ukraine.

Readers who wish to help support this exchange may make checks out to Royal West Academy/Ukraine Exchange and send them to: Royal West Academy, 189 Easton Ave., Montreal West, Quebec H4X 1L4. For further information readers may call (514) 481-5871.

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