Gateshead
College is located in Gateshead, England, just across the Tyne River from the
larger and richer Newcastle. A sister city of Atlanta since
1977, Newcastle overshadows Gateshead and the other small cities
occupying the Tyne’s banks roughly stretching from its North Sea mouth to about
twenty miles upriver.
David
Mastaglio is a very large and warm man – the late, former Mayor Maynard Jackson
stood six feet four inches and weighed perhaps 300 pounds.
Georgia
State University in Atlanta and the University of North Umbria at Newcastle
embraced the exchange program too.
The
exchange program and partnership was primarily the collaborative vision of Mrs.
Ann Goellner, CIS Instructional Coordinator, Dr. Douglas Frutiger, Social
Studies Chair, Mr. David Smith, Chair, Atlanta – Newcastle Sister City
Committee, Dr. David Mastaglio, Professor of Marketing, Newcastle, and the
Coca-Cola Foundation for sponsoring several of the ongoing exchanges. The
strength of this program was the wonderful friendship that developed between
Dr. Frutiger and Dr. Mastaglio who became best of friends. Doug and
Dave facilitated the nearly annual exchanges while David worked at Tynemouth
College, University of Northumbria, Gateshead College, Washington Business
College, and Newcastle College.
While
I was busy building exchange programs with Montego Bay (Jamaica), Mainor School
of Economics (Tallinn, Estonia) Port-of-Spain (Trinidad), American School of
Rio and others, I had very little connection to Doug, Dave, and Ann’s very
successful exchange program. I schmoozed with our English guests in
the halls, after school in the CIS office, at the welcoming and farewell
partyies, and served as a support person for Doug and Ann as needed – but it
was “their baby” and I respected that.
My
real involvement with a Newcastle exchange began when the Center for
International Studies magnet program received a $10,000 Coca Cola Foundation
grant to fund several magnet needs. The subsidy portion allotted to the
exchange funded airline tickets for Dr. Frutiger and I to chaperon our six
students to experience a three week long marketing class taught by Dr. Mastaglio.
My son Sasha had been enrolled in the International Business Program that year
and participated in this exchange too.
Dave
and Doug’s itinerary included a four day tour of the Scottish Highlands and
Edinburgh, seminars with leading Newcastle businesses, visits to local
attractions, and perhaps a full week in the classroom. Dave and Gateshead
joined the IBP network of schools before the exchange and he was a good partner
until my retirement in June 2004 - Doug retired in 2010.
Alan
Hudson, a student of Dr. Mastaglio and an anchor of this 1995 exchange, was
supposed to house me and indeed owned a lovely home. Unfortunately, at
that point in time, I was subject to allergies to cats and dogs, especially
large hair dogs like Mr. Hudson’s. Our search for another residence
proved fruitless so I rented a suite in a local hotel that served a very good
breakfast. My son Sasha had been placed with a very nice young man but
whose home and family situation was so chaotic that Sasha soon joined me in the
hotel.
Gateshead
College was located in a working class area that at that time had many pubs but
very few restaurants. Sash and I searched nightly for new places to eat
but were essentially limited to two hotel dining rooms.
Limited group photo, l - r: J.
Arthur Navolis, Evaras Kihara, Dacia Crowder, Lakeita Graves, Shateira Andrews
My son Sasha
Heller(left) at age 16 and Matt Reagan . Dr. Frutiger’s head is pictured above my left elbow.
The woman is a Gateshead instructor and friend of Dr. Mastaglio.
The
North Atlanta students sold ACTCo goods at a kiosk in the Metro Center Mall and
the Gateshead College cafeteria during the busy lunch period.
Dacia
Crowder holding a leather mask made in Jamaica and that ACTCo was trying to
create export markets for in Newcastle and environs. These masks were the
product of Jean Dominique Boudot, a Frenchman born in Senegal, who sailed the
Atlantic Ocean to Jamaica, married a Jamaican woman, settled down and began
hand making these African masks. He became renowned for his craft but
disappeared in 1997 and some believe he was robbed and murdered.
An
example of current ongoing exchange program between Atlanta and Newcastle
schools.
My
collaboration with David Mastaglio, Gateshead College, Atlanta - Newcastle
Sister City Committee and many others afforded me the opportunity to travel
throughout north-eastern England and much of Scotland. This whetted my
appetite to visit Ireland and Northern Ireland. Some Irish towns and
cities, in both Irelands, send sizable delegations to Sister Cities
International Conferences to win friendship and support – they all succeed
through their sheer charm, exceptional warmth, and very well organized efforts
at cultivating a favorable view of them, particularly in the hotel pub.
I
had numerous discussion with Irish officials about bringing the IBP to their
town or city, or engaging in student exchanges to develop friendship and trade
linkages – but one stands out among the rest. I first met Councilor
Christopher P. McCaughn of the Moyle District Council, Ballycastle, Northern
Ireland, UK, at the 1997 SCI Convention in San Diego and we occasionally
corresponded to stay in touch. In 1999 at the SCI Convention in Miami,
FL, the Atlanta Sister City Commission (ASCC) won a campaign to host the 2000 SCI
Convention in Atlanta. Chris McCaughn, planning to attend the Miami
Convention, had heard that Atlanta was going after the hosting nod and
contacted me.
The
ASCC Convention Team put on a full court press to secure the hosting choice for
2000. I produced the message t-shirts that the ASCC team wore to help
make our case. During a convention break, Chris and I made plans for a
North Atlanta – Causeway Institute (Ballycastle campus) student exchange to take
place later in the year. I agreed to try and make it happen – he and the
Causeway Institute would petition a grant from the government to subsidize
their airline tickets to Atlanta.
My
most memorable moment at the Miami Convention was when I was in the hotel
elevator on my way up from the lobby to my room on the seventh floor. At
the third floor, the elevator door suddenly opens up, Chris is standing there
with a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey in each hand and is smiling
wildly. He says; “Here my friend, take a little bit of Irish cheer back
to Atlanta courtesy of me and Ballycastle.” Chris puts the bottles in my
hands, steps back, smiles, and the door closed. I’m standing there with a
fifth of whiskey in each hand and a bit shell-shocked when an elderly rider in
the elevator says to me; “So, what are you planning to do, take up
drinking?” I took those bottles back to Atlanta with me and each time I
took a shot, I thought of Chris and the third floor stop and started
laughing.
Unfortunately,
Chris and the Causeway Institute did not obtain their grant request and had to
postpone plans for at least a year.
The
exchange to Newcastle had to be canceled which ended any inclusion of Causeway
Institute students. I have not yet made it to Ireland, nor have I been
back to Newcastle. Actually, David Mastaglio has been living in Riga,
Latvia for some years now in collaboration with one of the best IBP partner
schools, the Riga Commerce School.
I
recognized that despite the good will efforts Chris made on our behalf, this
partnership and exchange was likely to fade away - and it did. Student
exchanges are very easy to propose, hard to make them happen, and harder still
to do it well for all involved. My experience was that if I wanted to
make two student exchanges happen in one year, I had to have at least five
initiatives going simultaneously because three were going to fall
through.
Good
job David Smith:
In
conclusion, I wish recognize Mr. David Smith, Chair of the Atlanta – Newcastle
Committee for the more than twenty year long contribution he has made to the
Atlanta Sister Cities Commission and program. David has linked Atlanta
and Newcastle in many fruitful ways and built a strong and ongoing
program.
The
ASCC members and I are all very grateful to David for producing the annual ASCC
report to the Atlanta City Council from 1999 to the present. David, a
gifted ad executive with excellent computer skills, has made the Commission
look good for fourteen years.