Schools and GSE Alumni

This morning (Thursday) started with a presentation at a the Barrington Breakfast Rotary Club. From here Brent was taken in a brand new Corvette to Barrington Middle School Station Campus where he met with the Principal for an hour to discuss the ins and outs of his job and what his school is like. It is the equivalent of a school for Year 6, 7, and 8 Students (the old Std 4 to Form 2) and it has 1000 students! The campus is very well resourced and had a really positive feeeling about it. Barrington is a pretty affluent area and 60-70% of a households property tax goes towards the school district.
If we thought this was impressive, then we were in for an eye-opener at the High School! WOW!!!! Talk about well resourced - it was incredible! Brent is staying with Dr. Tom Leonard, the District Superintendent, who showed us around the school. The roof area of the school is 52 acres - it is huge. They have 3000 students attending and even have their own full-time policeman! Big auditorium, 25m indoor swimming pool, Television studio, Kids playground with roundabouts and slides for teaching physics and forces, on-site child care facility for staff - which doubles as a child development study class for senior students, brand new turf American Football field with rubber 400m track around the outside, and so it goes on. If I had to go back to high school, that is where I would want to be!! Were presented with Barrington High School Sports Hoodies before leaving. Could have easily spent a week in these schools.

This afternoon we went into Chicago to the Old Town School of Folk Music, which runs community programmes in guitar, piano, dance, art, etc. An amazing community-changing place that has aided in the social development of the community.


At 6pm we were hosted at a GSE Alumni gathering where we met with people from this district who had been on trips like us before. It was great to share stories and talk about the joys and pressures of being involved in such a trip.