Cultural, Community Exchanges Continue to Cultivate Character at AMHS

This fall, students at Amityville Memorial High School (AMHS) welcomed back their friends from Plainedge High School for yet another of many meetings between the two schools designed to immerse students from one school in another’s culture. The ultimate goal is to broaden students’ views of people who are different than them and teach them to become more accepting of others. Although AMHS and Plainedge are just 12 minutes away from one another, the racial makeup is vastly different.

“Rather than discussing diversity in a typical classroom lesson, students have the opportunity to experience it first hand. One of our mantras is ‘knock down walls and build bridges,’” said AMHS teacher Jason McGowan, who led the development of the program with teachers from Plainedge High School, an idea he admittedly borrowed from his father, also an educator.

Fifty students from each school participate in the visit; each student is paired with another for the day. A typical day starts out with a series of ice-breaker activities coordinated by Mr. McGowan and the Plainedge teachers. Students get to know one another before attending classes together, having lunch together, and participating in other bonding activities.

Now in its third year, the program continues to flourish, and the feedback from students has been extremely positive. “They are finding more universal things in common, than differences,” added Mr. McGowan, who will accompany the AMHS students to Plainedge this spring for a follow-up visit. In the meantime, students stay in touch on their own time, some getting together outside of school and others through Facebook.