Durham Academy Upper School will once again host a group of Chinese students, and we are still in need of host families. The students will arrive on Jan. 30 and depart on Feb. 14.

DA Global Programs Coordinator Kevin Schroedter encourages you to strongly consider opening up your home to one of these students. Since this is all part of our exchange program, our DA host students will have the opportunity to visit China and be hosted by their exchange families in June. We have an exciting itinerary planned for DA students, with a departure on June 11 and return on June 24. Students will visit schools in Beijing and Shanghai, explore important cultural sites in those two cities, as well as the celebrated city of Xi'an, famous for its traditional architecture and home to the terra cotta warriors.

While knowledge of the Chinese language would be quite useful, we are opening up this opportunity to the entire DA Upper School, regardless of their current language of study. A couple of Chinese language workshops will be offered in the spring to help with some essential courtesy and travel-related phrases. This will be an exciting and enriching experience for all participants!

If you are interested and would like to find out more, please contact Kevin Schroedter (kevin.schroedter@da.org) or Bonnie Wang (bonnie.wang@da.org) as soon as possible.