The realization of Journey East II will yield the establishment of an Asian Studies Academy with a performing arts focus, performing arts exchanges with China, the institutionalization of an Asian Studies curriculum throughout the Windham Central Supervisory Union, and the introduction of Chinese language programs into the district (for grades K-12, phased in over the next few years).  Learn more.

Asian Studies Academy

For the duration of a semester, approximately 25 high school students from the Windham County (likely to include the entire Southeast part of Vermont, from White River Junction to Brattleboro) choice region will engage in an academy-model program focused on Asian Studies and the collective creation of a performance piece to be presented at various venues in China.

The academic program is being created in response to a growing eagerness among our students to learn more about China and its cultures.Whereas Journey East I was an after-school and weekend program, this structure allows for more immersion in the subject matter and far more in-depth study. Within the framework of this grant, students will have the opportunity to enroll in this academy in either spring of 2002 or spring of 2004. A student’s school week in the program will consist of: research; writing; study of Asian literature in translation; study of Chinese geography, history, philosophy, and politics; Chinese language study; training in Tai Chi; study of Asian performance traditions and content, and a performance workshop. The structure of Leland and Gray’s school year, i.e., the block schedule, allows this semester-long study.

Upon return from the performance program in China (see below), students will serve as resources in other Vermont schools where they will be engaged to perform, visit classrooms, and assist in research.In addition, each participant will choose a focus area that s/he wishes to study in greater depth and will deliver a presentation on that subject in a seminar the following fall. This seminar will be required of participants and offered to all other interested students and faculty in the school.

Academy faculty will consist of two full-time teachers, Tom Connor (project director) and Ann Landenberger (art director) of Journey East I. In addition, part-time faculty will include: guest artists (Chinese), guest lecturers, a part-time music teacher, and a regular Tai-Chi instructor.