Two Clearwater ninth-graders recently returned from a trip to China, part of a group of 22 St. Cloud District 742 Chinese Immersion students who were asked to be ambassadors for the area.

 

Twins Malea and Mitch Miller joined the district’s Chinese Immersion program the year they began kindergarten at Madison Elementary School. It was the first year the program was offered, which began through a joint effort between the district and the Confucius Institute at St. Cloud State University (SCSU).

 

The SCSU Confucius Institute is one of 97 institutes throughout the U.S. that were established in 2004 through an initiative of the Ministry of Education in China. The goal of the institutes is to promote the Chinese language, culture and understanding of the country. 

 

This year’s China trip was the program’s first. Students had to be in good academic and behavioral standing in order to be invited to attend.

 

The group flew to Detroit March 12. From there they took a 14-hour flight to Beijing, the capital of China.

 

The group spent a lot of time at educational institutes during their 14-day trip. They gave a presentation about Minnesota to students at a Beijing Elementary School and joined them in recess. They took a bullet train to Changchun and spent a day at a high school, learning what their school days were like and learning calligraphy. 

 

“They all have English teachers and spoke English, which was surprising,” said Malea Miller.

 

At one college they visited they were given a presentation and heard a performance on traditional music and instruments of China. At an experimental college they each had one-on-one conversations with a seeing-impaired person.

 

The students attended a number of meetings and presentations, where they were honored as ambassadors from America. They also toured lots of museums, where they learned about China and the Chinese culture.

 

The trip included a number of highlights, including the Great Wall of China and Tiananmen Square. 

 

“I really liked the Great Wall of China,” said Malea Miller. “It was really pretty and really steep, which you wouldn’t expect from pictures. It was a cool experience.”

 

“My favorite part of the trip was visiting the Great Wall of China,” said Mitch Miller. “People were there from all over the world. There were Chinese people there selling souvenirs, and we had fun bargaining to see who could get the best deal.”

 

“Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City were really beautiful,” said Malea Miller. “There were lots of buildings there, and it was nice to see how their architecture differs from ours.”

 

The students also visited Olympic Park, where the 2008 Beijing Olympics were held. 

 

Everywhere they went they caused a stir; people wanted to get pictures of the group or with them.

 

 

While there Malea Miller and her host family’s daughter, Iris, practiced their foreign language skills on each other, with Miller speaking Chinese to Iris and Iris answering her in English.

 

 

“The most impactful experience I had on the trip was with the host family,” said Malea Miller. “You got a new perspective on someone’s life.”

 

The Confucius Institute received a grant for the China trip, which paid for the students’ food and housing. To help pay for the airfare, students used a fundraising letter they sent to family, friends, and local businesses.

 

Along with many family members, the Miller family expressed gratitude to Clearwater Travel Plaza, Clearwater Parts and Supply, RealTime Solutions, Rejuv Medical, Monticello NAPA Auto Parts, and Gilliland Chevrolet-Cadillac for supporting the twins’ fundraising efforts.