Teachers Are Ready for Scotland Link

Students Will Enter The Export Business

By Ann Dickerson

Staff Writer

The Atlanta Journal

 

(Atlanta, August 28, 1995) – Classes don’t begin in Coweta County until Monday, but teachers have been working for weeks to prepare for the onslaught of more than 13,000 students. Even in Fayette, where school begins September 5, some teachers have curtailed their summer breaks for extra study.

Fayette students normally would have started school August 21, but the Board of Education voted for the later start this year to give contractors extra time to finish building Kedron and Spring Hill elementary schools, as well as to complete renovations at several schools. Kedron is expected to open on time, but Spring Hill won’t be ready until at least Christmas.

Last week, about 20 teachers from both counties attended training sessions for a joint pilot program called "Achievers International," better known as "the Scotland project."

The program will link students and teachers from seven schools in Fayette and Coweta with counterparts in Ayrshire, Scotland, for a cultural and business exchange.

"This is a wonderful project," said Sandy Creek economics teacher Amor Kok, who moved here five years ago from South Africa. "Although it is a game, it could be a business opportunity for a local manufacturer."

A video conference on September 13 at the Georgia Power building in downtown Atlanta will kick off the project. About 100 Fayette-Coweta students and teachers will "meet" their Scottish business partners, thanks to the magic of satellites, and discuss strategy.

After the teleconference, the high schools will communicate via the Internet and e-mail. The American students eventually will choose a product to export to Scotland, where it will be sold in Marks & Spenser department stores.

The Scottish students also will send products across the Atlantic, where they’ll be sold in the Fayetteville and Newnan Belk stores.

Kok said the Americans are going to export ready-made products, such as Christmas decorations or peach soap.

"American goods are wonderful," the teacher said. "They’re high quality. That’s something the students will learn from this."

The project includes three schools from Fayette – McIntosh High, Sandy Creek High, and Burch Elementary and four from Coweta –Newnan High, Evans Middle, Fairmount Elementary, and Elm Street Elementary.

"The communications skills that will be developed will be tremendous," said Lucy Welzant-Hayden, Coweta’s curriculum director. "The cultural sharing and the use of the Internet will broaden their perspective."

The elementary schools won’t be directly involved in the marketing research, but may help in packaging the product, said Jim Pittman, Fayette’s administrative assistant for community education, public information and partnership programs.

"This project has great possibilities," Pittman said. "We’re really looking forward to it."

Business partners in the venture include Georgia Power, Belk, Peachtree National Bank and Bank of Coweta.