IBP partner schools were connected by courageous teams of administrators and teachers - courageous because of the risks they were willing to take to provide their students with innovative curriculum and special learning opportunities. The team at Terry Fox Secondary, located in a Vancouver area suburban city, were very brave and innovative in adapting the IBP to their school’s realities.
Mrs. Maureen Parks, Business & Career Education Teacher
Mrs. Patty Gartland, International Education Coordinator
Mr. Dave Matheson, Principal
Mr. Brian Fichter, Principal
Background and Partnership Summary:
Courage certainly reflects Terry Fox Secondary and its namesake, one of Canada’s bravest and most popular heroes. Terry Fox was a student and talented basketball player. During Terry’s senior year, he developed cancer in his thigh and his leg had to be amputated. This operation effectively ended Terry’s sports career and he sadly lay in his hospital bed contemplating what to do with his life. One day a close friend visited and brought news of another athlete who had recently overcome a physical setback and made a significant contribution.
Terry Fox decided to raise his country’s awareness of cancer by walking 4,000 miles across Canada. Terry, with his amputated leg exposed, walked the equivalent of a marathon every day for months. The nation quickly became aware of his amazing challenge and millions of people daily began following his progress. Unfortunately, the cancer returned just as Terry had reached midway and eventually consumed him.
But
Terry Fox had caught the imagination of his nation. Each year Terry Fox
10k and marathon races raise millions of dollars for cancer research.
Port Coquitlam, BC, honored Terry’s memory by dedicating in his name the local
high school that replaced the previous old building.
How
did Terry Fox Secondary and North Atlanta High become
partners?
The
partnership was a classic example of teacher / parent word of mouth. My dear
friends Howie and Ronnie Zandman had enrolled their two children, Melissa and
Adam, in the North Atlanta International Studies magnet program. In 2003,
Howard, now Forensic Accounting Manager for Habif, Arogeti and Wynne, was
associated with Kroll Worldwide in 2003. Ron Parks, a prominent Vancouver
forensic accountant, now retired and Maureen’s husband, was also associated
with Kroll back then. In 1999, Kroll scheduled an annual meeting of
company factors that gathered in both Seattle, Washington and Vancouver,
BC. During the convention, Howard and Ron sat down at a hotel restaurant
table to discuss business when they were joined by their wives Ronnie and
Maureen. The
beginning of an outstanding partnership: At
that point in time, Maureen was a 33 year veteran starting to consider
retirement. Ronnie described for Maureen the International Business
Program (IBP) Diploma developed by North Atlanta and her interest was immediate
and focused. Maureen contacted me, Arnold Heller, and I was glad to answer
her many questions. Maureen established an IBP in a semester and the next
year received a grant from the BC Ministry of Education to develop and offer
the IBP curriculum online. North
Atlanta High – Terry Fox Secondary Exchange: Terry
Fox Secondary (TFS) hosted a NAHS IBP exchange group Feb. 12 – 19, 2000 and
provided a terrific program. NAHS happily reciprocated when Maureen and
Patty Gartland brought one of the largest student delegations to Super-Exchange
V hosted by the NAHS IBP April 20 – 30, 2001.
The
events of Sept. 11, 2001 put a damper on travel for a while but by the end of
the year TFS proposed to NAHS that the two schools engage in a joint project
during the 2002 Fall Semester. NAHS had discussed a joint exchange with
Ludwig Erhardt Schule in Frankfurt and Sophie Charlotte Oberschule of Berlin,
Germany and invited TFS to be part of the German IBP Mini-Convention 1.
Unfortunately,
Maureen’s mother became too ill for her to leave the country and TFS had to
withdraw from the exchange. Montego Bay High, chaperoned by Mr. Michael
Willis, instead joined NAHS in the German mini-convention. When
Super-Exchange VI was proposed and information distributed, TFS was one of the
first schools to commit to the Montego Bay super-exchange. SE VI,
however, had to be postponed for another year due to an impossible scheduling
conflict. Turks
& Caicos Islands IBP Mini-Convention: Maureen
and her students wished to complete their last online course objective: educational
travel and a report on a foreign business operation. Furthermore, Maureen
Parks and Arnold Heller decided to honor both their retirements with a joint
project to the Turks & Caicos Islands. Mrs. Rita Gardner, then Gender
Issues Coordinator for the Ministry of Education, graciously invited TFS and
NAHS to visit Clement Howell High School on Providenciales Island (Caicos)
April 4 – 9, 2003 and H. J. Robinson High School, Grand Turk Island (Turks)
April 9 – 13, 2003. Both
high schools and islands provided wonderful programs and fantastic
hospitality. TFS and NAHS were very grateful to Principal Louise Thomas
of Clement Howell and Principal Jane Garland of H. J. Robinson. The TCI
IBP Mini-Convention 1 was a great success and memorable last exchange for Mrs.
Parks and Dr. Heller. Friday,
Jan. 15, 1999 – the partnership takes form. 30
September 1999:
Dear Arnold,
Global
Connections 2000 Conference in Vancouver: Select example of presentations that
were scheduled. The
IBP / ACTCo explored the possibility
of importing BC First Nation arts and crafts but the prices were too high to
profitably sell in the Atlanta market. Terry
Fox Secondary participated in Super-Exchange V, April 20 – 30, 2001, and
carried out upon returning home the conference’s learning objectives.
The
TFS IBP exchange group took what they learned during the iXL e-commerce
symposiums and produced program and student run enterprise web pages.
For
more information about Terry Fox Secondary’s Super – Exchange V experience,
please access folders Super – Exchange V: Greatest Student Exchange in History
and SE
V – Part 2. The
beginning of the end of a Golden Age in global entrepreneurship education at
the secondary level: Unfortunately,
the British Columbia provincial government experienced a budget crisis in 2002
and began radically trimming educational budgets, especially specialized
program’s such as Maureen was building at Terry Fox. Just as Maureen had
fully adapted the IBP to Terry Fox, she had to begin dismantling it. The
irrationality of that took its toll and Maureen began to consider
retirement. At
the same time, the Atlanta system was moving in a different direction - more
expensive, specialized, un-measureable programs such as the IBP were losing
favor. Getting the test scores up by re-allocating financial resources as
equally as possible became an APS mantra. Of course, the testing emphasis
would lead to the worst educational scandal in American history. I, too,
began to sense a similar fate for the NAHS IBP and decided to retire June 4,
2004, rather than experience dismantling my program too. Doug Frutiger
promised to keep the IBP going as well as he could but administrative demands
and further magnet budget cuts limited what he could possibly do – the program
slowly dissolved. Maureen
and I brainstormed about possible locations for a “last student exchange” joint
project. I suggested the Turks & Caicos and called Rita Gardner to
inquire if that would work for them. TCI had sent an exchange group to SE
V and had invited us to come visit them. Rita said “Come on down” and
sent the following invitation. The generous TCI government covered the
inter-island air fare costs. Rita
Gardner was a prototypical IBP teacher – she loved bringing people together,
organized a terrific program and itinerary, juggled a million important
things. Maureen
and her students flew into the Atlanta airport (group photo) - we flew jointly
to TCI via Air Jamaica with a transfer in Montego Bay.
My
good friend Michael Willis met us inside Montego Bay Airport to assist us in
catching our Air Jamaica flight to TCI.
We
were placed with host families spread across Provodenciales Island – I stayed
with Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Howell who was a minister and community leader.
The
island view from the Howell hilltop home’s front yard and porch.
The
people of TCI are surprisingly religious and Christianity can be almost
furiously preached during the Sunday morning church services, especially among
the more fundamentalist and evangelical congregations.
The
tour of Cable and Wireless revealed a well managed company and operation.
Maureen
and Terry Fox student taking rest with conch aqua farm in
background. Conch is a staple food for TCI people and it is prepared
many different ways. IBP
students purchased conch shells for gifts to give back home. TCI is
developing smaller, upscale vacation resorts to build their tourist industry – they
wish to avoid construction of “soulless, giant hotels with 1,000+ rooms and
indifferent mass staff. Clement
Howell High appeared to me to be a traditional Caribbean secondary school – the
students were dressed in uniforms, mostly sex segregated in classrooms, and
congregated daily each morning for a pep talk from the principal and a
devotional. NAHS
and TFS students in group photo with some of their Clement Howell High host
students. Clement Howell, whom the school was named after, is the father
of Conrad Howell. The
students loved exploring this big deep cave. A
TCI version of a Trinidadian steel band entertained the farewell party.
We
arrived in Grand Turk and were surprised to learn that the island and town was
more of an administrative center than a tourist resort. A bad hurricane
had hit the island in 1978 and a new hotel had not been constructed
since. Regardless, Grand Turk is a quaint and picturesque town and we
quickly fell in love with the place. Courtesy
call on and reception with Ministries of Education and the Chief Secretary and
staff. Rita Gardner, the lady with the sport jacket, is in center of
group. Example
of quaint village architecture with narrow lanes and Victorian trim.
Maureen,
three of our students, and myself enjoy lunch in the lovely café courtyard.
Instructor
has a mission to reconstruct traditional TCI culture with focus on native song,
musical instruments, dance and dress. IBP
students are briefed on the development of TCI infrastructure with a focus on
wireless and cable communications. Photo
of picture exhibited in Museum of Turks & Caicos.
I
am pictured with my residential host on Grand Turk Island, an accountant with
the Ministry of Finance. The
Local Village Beach Bar & Restaurant is a center of town and community life
and busy most nights of the week. This adjacent beach is the activity
center where different groups play American football or European soccer.
My students took on a very athletic group of local divers who were also
fisherman, soccer and football players. A third group, Orthodox rabbis
gathered from the Chabad movement synagogues spread across North America, were
vacationing courtesy of New York billionaire Ronald Perelman. The three
groups, distinctly different but very friendly, rotated in matches against each
other two days in a row. The
rabbis invited Maureen and I to lunch with Mr. Perelman who was vacationing off
of Grand Turk in his $250 million dollar yacht with then ex-wife actress Ellen
Barkin. Ron Perelman was impressed with the IBP concept and said that
more American schools should be copying us.
Is
this a great student exchange or what? That’s
Ron Perelman’s yacht in the background, Bill Gates and Paul Allen were also
anchored in their own luxury yachts off of Grand Turk. Right after taking
this picture, a fisherman who had befriended my students in a football game,
walked into the Local Village’s kitchen and sold a 53 pound grouper (that he
had just caught 20 minutes before) to the chef. 30 minutes later
that incredibly fresh grouper was served up with a lemon butter sauce and was
about the best piece of fish that I’ve ever eaten. It’s good to retire
well. The
sunset viewed from the Local Village Bar deck symbolically reflected the end of
our TEC exchange, IBP programs, and educational careers.
NAHS IBP exchange
group hosted by Maureen Parks and the Terry Fox Secondary IBP.