After a long flight across the vast ocean, Counselor Ms. Maria Ioele stepped out of a busy airport, covering her eyes as rays of light parted to show the lush hills and the distant peninsula of Italy.
Ms. Ioele planned on staying in the northern part of Italy for a year, but things took a turn when she heard that her father had fallen ill thousands of miles away. Before she had to return, Ms. Ioele planned on learning more about the Italian education system to start an exchange program with TCHS.
“I have had many opportunities to visit Italy,” Ms. Ioele said. “After chaperoning a trip in 2014 I decided that I wanted to someday return and teach in Italy.”
Ms. Ioele’s parents were born in southern Italy, in the region known as Calabria. To introduce Ms. Ioele to her Italian heritage, her parents first brought her to Italy when she was five years old. The next time Ms. Ioele went to Italy was in 2001, where she lived in Florence as a student for six months.
“I returned to Italy the summer of 2016,” Ms. Ioele said. “I was living in Turin, in northern Italy where I found a job as an English teacher.”
Ms. Ioele flew to Italy on July 16th and when she arrived she immediately looked for a place to rent. A close friend of the Ioele’s named Andreana helped her find a place for her time in Italy. After two months, Ms. Ioele was hired as an English teacher for a private Italian school. She planned to stay in Italy for the entire year, but her father became sick and she had to return on Sept. 20.
“Though my teaching time was cut short,” Ms. Ioele said. “I did learn a great deal in a small amount of time.”
To implement an exchange program, Ms. Ioele would need a high school in Turin willing to take part as well as school and district approval. Ms. Ioele would teach any students on the trip basic Italian vocabulary since she is fluent in Italian. There is still a long way to go before the exchange program begins, but Ms. Ioele thinks students will benefit.
“There is a lot of history in Turin,” Ms. Ioele said. “The exchange program would expose students to things beyond school.”
TCHS School Newspaper