Students from 30 U.S. high schools and a like number of Soviet schools will travel to each other’s country early next year as the first participants in a new exchange program, officials announced last week.
The Soviet students are expected to arrive in the United States for a four-week visit in January, and the Americans are scheduled to travel to the Soviet Union in March. Both groups will live with host families, attend local schools, and visit historic and cultural sites.
As many as 15 students from each school will take part in the exchange.
The program, announced last September, is the result of an agreement reached between President Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail S. Gorbachev. It is administered by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the American Council of Teachers of Russian, and Sister Cities International, under a grant from the United States Information Agency.
Officials expect to choose an additional 25 schools from each country in the 1989-90 school year, and another 45 schools the following year.
In addition to their overall academic excellence, the participating American schools were selected because they provide at least two years of Russian-language instruction, have secured local funding for the costs of the exchange, have shown a commitment to international studies, and offer resources of interest to their Soviet partners.
The U.S. schools selected include:
Alaska: East Anchorage High School, Anchorage. Arizona: Central High School, Phoenix. Colorado: Rangeview High School, Aurora. Connecticut: Glastonbury High School, Glastonbury; Choate Rosemary Hall School, Wallingford. Maryland: Friends School of Baltimore Inc.; John Carroll School, Bel Air; Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Bethesda.
Massachusetts: Phillips Academy, Andover; Buckingham Brown & Nichols School, Cambridge; Newton North High School, Newtonville. Michigan: Wylie E. Groves High School, Birmingham. Minnesota: South High School, Minneapolis; South St. Paul High School, South St. Paul. Missouri: St. Louis University High School, St. Louis. New Hampshire: Exeter Area High School, Exeter.
New Jersey: Princeton Day School, Princeton; Sparta High School, Sparta. New Mexico: La Cueva High School, Albuquerque. New York: Staten Island Technical High School, Staten Island. Ohio: Princeton High School, Cincinnati; Columbus Altenative High School, Columbus. Oregon: Cleveland High School, Portland.
South Carolina: A.C. Flora High School, Columbia; Texas: Sam Houston High School, Arlington; Bellaire High School, Bellaire. Virginia: Episcopal High School, Alexandria. Washington: Mariner High School, Everett; Lakeside School, Seattle; Seattle Public Schools.
