Students online with Balkans - USA

National Catholic Reporter, Jan 30, 2004

LOS ANGELES -- St. Joseph High School in Lakewood, Calif., part of the Los Angeles archdiocese, is one of 16 high schools in the United States participating in the School Connectivity Project that links U.S. and Balkan high school students through computer technology. The program sponsored by Catholic Relief Services and the U.S. State Department began in September.

St. Joseph student Sarah Zapeda said the program has made her more aware of how she views other people. "When I began hearing from students in Europe I was shocked at how good their English was and surprised that they were able to talk about topics that I was interested in," Zapeda noted. "I ... was totally surprised because I didn't expect them to know about U.S. hip-hop music."

Tiffany Gumabon, a St. Joseph junior, said the project "is cool because it's widening our views of people so we aren't so narrow-minded."

Schools in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Croatia and Romania are grouped into clusters; each cluster is paired with a U.S. school in California, Idaho, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Utah or Virginia.