MILLINOCKET, Maine — Stearns High School has five Chinese students enrolled this year, with another possibly on the way, Millinocket School Committee Chairman Kevin Gregory said Tuesday.
As Superintendent Kenneth Smith visits China over the next several weeks to secure connections that would lead to more student enrollments, the five students have moved in with host families. The program had three students last year, Gregory said.
Gregory expressed some satisfaction with the increase.
“I think we must have done something right to have more coming this year,” he said.
Smith is helping establish a Millinocket sister school in China as part of the dual diploma program established in cooperation with U.S. State Department and Chinese national and school officials. He will return to Maine by the end of the month. Assistant Superintendent and Stearns Principal Kelly Weise did not return a message left Tuesday.
Millinocket school leaders made international news, and drew some international criticism, about 1½ years ago when they announced they wanted to enroll 60 Chinese students in a program starting in September 2011 that would offer them a taste of American life at a typical rural American high school.
Town residents generally approved of the plan. Recruiting difficulties accounted for the school attracting only three Chinese students last year, school officials have said. School officials hope that the Chinese students and the tuition they pay, about $24,000 each, will offset declining student enrollments and school funding while providing the students and community with a glimpse of another culture.
Hopes of recruiting more Chinese students were bolstered when 26 Chinese students and three teachers participated in a new, weeklong intensive English and environmental sciences summer program at Stearns last month. School officials are working to get some of those students enrolled at Stearns.
As many as 100 Chinese students could eventually attend Stearns, Smith has said.
It’s too bad Nick Sambides didn’t check his information before printing. Kelley Weiss has not been the principal at Stearns since she resigned to take another position this summer. Stearns is now being led quite capably by Principal Linda Mackenzie. Unfortunately this is very typical of Nick’s work – he has a history of not getting facts straight or quotes right. It’s really unfortunate because the International Students Program at Stearns is really a great story – but you won’t read about it here.
Fast forward 4-6 years from now,these Chinese students that will spend their high school Friday and Saturday nights studying, will end up being the professionals and managers and business owners in Maine. While their native,Maine born, fun-loving redneck high school counterparts that will party,pot and booze 7 days a week though high school, end up with the menial work jobs at the companies, with the Chinese students as their bosses
edited for typo
You are right, sorry to say, a lot of these Maine kids have the genes to be Ivy League, leaders, and they throw it away on booze, pot. I do not think they can see, or are shown there potential, we need leaders to get out there and make a difference. This Chinese thing, who to H— dreamed this up. The Chinese have one thing in mind, destroying us or owning us, we better wake up.
Lol, yes the Chinese are out to “Destroy” us. Be careful, they might team up with those pesky Russians!
Hahah
Russia and the Chinese armies routinely hold war drills with each other. That fact can easily be checked with google.
i do not agree with the “a lot of these Maine kids have the genes to be Ivy League’. I do not think Maine kids have those genes, i believe the genes have been altered from generations of family members drinking booze and smoking pot,butts.
I do agree the Chinese plan on taking over the USA. The US military is not as great as we and the movie image makes them out to be. When was the last time the US won a war against a non third world country? WW2.
I like Romen noodles with fiddle heads and squirrel.
I like Romen noodles, if it is the picante pepper favored or creamy chicken. I dont like fiddles or squirrel. I dont like hunting either, i like to ban and just put bowls of food though-out the Maine woods so wildlife can eat without fighting each other.
Isn’t this somewhat racist? It makes the Chinese appear as though they are a sideshow act, like the town is collecting a rare species.
They need to decide which species don’t hate China before they can mix it up a bit.
We shouldn’t hate China. We need to learn to compete. We all have this entitled “we deserve it mentality”.
Good luck with that. Go to a lot of other countries and see how they feel about anybody “from away”. Go to rural Maine and see if you find much the same attitude. I was listening to one old lady who was downright venomous about people from out of state buying restaurants and stores here. I mean we’re talking about places that closed and sent the workers home a few years ago. I told her at least it gets some young people back to work. She says she don’t care, we don’t need these people and we don’t need their money. I wonder what she thinks we deserve.
” I was listening to one old lady who was downright venomous about people from out of state buying restaurants and stores here.”
—As i said on the WVOM Ric Tyler and George Hale talk show. The company i work for in Maine, virtually all the managers are from other states, including myself. When we have job openings, virtually all the native Mainers flunk the drug and or criminal background check.
Maine people have to start looking at the mirror, at their vice-loving Maine values.if they want to succeed in life, or stay living in tarilers collecting welfare while doping,getting drunk every night.
“As i said on the WVOM Ric Tyler and George Hale talk show”. Nothing to do??
“When we have job openings, virtually all the native Mainers flunk the drug and or criminal background check.Maine people have to start looking at the mirror, at their vice-loving Maine values.if they want to succeed in life, or stay living in tarilers collecting welfare while doping,getting drunk every night.” Who is skowheganresident? Is this Roxanne??
King Summers, and Dill, are running for Maine US Senator, are all former out of staters. Where are the native born Mainers to run?
They are smart enough not to run.
I am tired of most of the BDN writers, it seems (BDN) has hired a bunch, that writing is just a sideline,
you get no details, twisted details, facts, LOL. I got a feeling this whole Stearns international deal will not gain us much, will cost us in future, what are they doing??
you don’t think the Stearns international program will gain us much, will cost us in the future? How is it going to cost you? They are paying to come here. Adding 5 more students to rolls does not mean they need to increase the teaching staff. That means about $100,000 the school is bringing in to decrease taxes of local taxpayers.
Nick no story about the migration of students from across the Dolby to Millinocket schools?
If Smith wants to spend all his time in China he should get a job there. Stearns HS didn’t have a very good Senior year with a lot of students failing and a few that didn’t graduate. I realize the most important thing about this chinese program is the money, but we have our own students that should come first. We have very capable teachers that really care about our students. Smith is all about the glory and really should leave Millinocket. Shelly Farrington is high on this program as she really wanted to vote on this last year and look where it got the town of Millinocket. Gregory is another that should step down on the School Board and stop be Smith’s puppet.
So whose fault is it that these students failed? Is it the capable teachers? or it is Shelley Farrington and Gregory? Or the superintendent? Or the Chinese students? Did it really matter that Chinese students were in the school last year? Is that what caused these kids to fail? Could it be these kids didn’t care? Couldn’t be bothered to apply themselves? The parents didn’t work with the students at home or search out help for them?
You can learn so much from these Chinese students if you take a moment and spent time with them.
It’s unfortunate that stearns67 doesn’t have the courage to use his/her actual identity. It’s also unfortunate that he/she doesn’t comment with facts. If you would spend time with Dr. Smith and get the facts on the International Students Program and meet with the students to understand them and why they are here then we can have a conversation. I am very high on the program because it’s a win/win for all. Putting “OUR OWN” students first and keeping our schools is the whole reason behind this program. It brings in money to help our local taxpayers and allows us offer additional programs for “OUR OWN” students. Without the revenue of this program we wouldn’t be able to do this. It helps to diversify our student population and exposes us all to another part of the world so we can develop a better understanding about eachother. The Chinese kids are very good students and that can create a healthy competition amongst our students to do their best as well.
I have no idea what you are talking about regarding “she really wanted to vote on this last year.” I did serve on the school board at one time but have not been on for two years. And “where it got the town of Millinocket?” It got the town alot – everything I listed above with the potential of more. Kudos to Dr. Smith for having the vision and gumption to look beyond Millinocket to help Millinocket and the entire Katahdin region for that matter.
Maybe it’s time for stearns67 to run for school board.He seems to have all the answers.
I don’t have a problem with Chinese students, I do think they are trying to push the money. It is like saying we are getting 60 students the first time. I do not think Smith has the best vision for Stearns. If the School Board had not expected so much money for the first year, I doubt we would be in another law suit, relying on 3/4’s of a million that was all air. If the board would of listened to Mr. Hopkins and start small, we would be in a much better situation.
We do not need to educate thier students we need to employ their dicipline in education. They no how to teach their children we have lost sight of how to do it. $$$$$ is what drives us learning is what drive the Chinese.
Town residents generally approved, I must of missed something here.