Vernon hosts Russian exchange students

Vernon — Twenty Russian exchange students and their two teachers recently spent two weeks as guests at Vernon Township High School.

One of the many conclusions they came to was that Tim Dunnigan, the principal of VTHS, was the best principal in the world, based on the fact that they had visited most every country in Europe and met other principals.

The students and their teachers traveled from St. Petersburg, Russia, to attend high school classes.They also went apple picking and hiking, bowling and shopping at the Middletown Mall. One of the most memorable experiences was the Friday night football game under the lights and the Harlem Wizards basketball game in the gym.

Lisa Hirkaler-Murphy, an art teacher and Sussex County Teacher of the Year, made all the arrangements, setting up host homes through the Vernon students and orchestrating entertainment and activities to keep everyone busy during their stay. One teacher, who is also a parent of a VTHS student, hosted a basketball player and took both his son and the Russian student to a Knicks game.

A whirlwind trip into New York City was also one of the final items on the agenda, including a selfie with the Statue of Liberty from a dock in New York, since the day did not afford them time to actually visit the site. Murphy’s Law came into play as a building under construction imploded that day, and several streets into lower Manhattan were closed, so they had to cancel Battery Park and The 9/11 Memorial Museum and make alternate plans via alternate routes. But the day was filled for the Russian and American students with a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, Carnegie Hall and Times Square.

The Russian program, called Bridges of Friendship and Education Across the Ocean, was a resounding success, with 10 to 20 VTHS students and a few teachers hankering for a trip to Russia themselves, if they can raise the money to go. Some of the Russian students loved the purely American/Vernon experiences, such as Halloween trick-or-treating, sitting by a fire roasting marshmallows with new friends, and the startling beauty of the Vernon countryside.

Hirkelar-Murphy will present the details of the exchange at the NJEA Teachers Convention in Atlantic City as an example of teacher-leadership. She said no teacher can do all of this alone, that other faculty members were critical to the success of the exchange. Several teachers have volunteered to help organize and participate in further exchanges.