Cottonwood High School recently hosted students from Incheon International High School in South Korea for a day filled with learning, cultural connection and creating friendships that stretch across the globe.

“We had 46 Korean students visiting our school, and they were paired up with Cottonwood students, who volunteered,” said Cottonwood Assistant Principal Ashley Snarr. “We begin by bringing them into the auditorium, where the Korean students are called on stage by their Korean teacher, and Justin (Pitcher, principal) calls our Cottonwood buddy, and they get to meet each other for the first time. We also gave them these really cool Cottonwood mugs with our logo on them so they could use them throughout the day.”

After introductions, the pairs head to first period. The visiting students attend four classes, experiencing firsthand how American classrooms function. 

“Our teachers are incredible and do a great job at making sure that they have materials ready for all the students. They participate in all the class activities and assignments just like the Cottonwood students,” she said.

Pitcher said it’s inspiring to watch both groups learn side by side. 

“It’s pretty incredible to watch our Korean students sitting in a math class,” he said. “There may be some language proficiency challenges, but they’re working together with the Cottonwood students to get through these problems, because they’re recognizing that, even though it’s taught in English, finding a slope is finding a slope.”

The visiting students were amazed by the range of electives available at Cottonwood, from auto shop and woodworking to theater and choir. 

“They had a jaw-dropping experience when they saw the auto shop, and kids actually working on cars,” Pitcher said. “They said they don’t have a lot of electives in their school.”

They also were impressed by the arts programs. 

“We went into a theater class where kids were giving monologues; they came out and said, these kids are like professional actors,” he said.

Snarr said many were fascinated by differences in American schools. 

“They talked about how they don’t have a swimming class in their schools, and about our tennis and baseball facilities; they were amazed by that,” Snarr said. “They love being able to experience all the new and excitement of the American schools.”

Music also is a common topic, said Steve Perschon, Granite school leadership and improvement director. 

“The fun thing right now is K-pop is really popular,” he said. “Our kids get into that and they have fun talking about K-pop and listening to the songs and dancing together.”

During lunch, the students shared a meal that’s quintessentially American. 

“We get them Chick-fil-A, because it’s an American meal, and one of our kids’ favorite. They love to share it with the Korean students,” Snarr said.

Students also had a chance to exchange social media contacts and token gifts. 

“Our students already are missing them; they’ve said, ‘They were so fun. I love learning from them. We’re already good friends,’” Snarr said. “Our kids enjoy this, and they see this as a super valuable experience for themselves, because they learn so much about the Korean culture of these students and how their school works.”

The exchange program has been running for about a decade. 

“It’s a partnership between the University of Utah and Incheon, which is a top honors-level school, so they spend a day at the U before coming to our high schools — Olympus, Taylorsville and Cottonwood,” Perschon said, saying the three schools were selected for teaching Korean or Asian languages and proximity to each other.

In addition, the Korean students visit Boston, New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles and national parks as part of their two-week cultural tour.

Perschon said the impact reaches far beyond the classroom.

“This is really good for our students to see that global perspective and to recognize that, in this world, we’re a lot more similar than we are different,” he said.