Parkway School District joins the Mosaic Ambassador School Program
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 5, 2019 Contact: Vin Ko Senior Program Manager St. Louis Mosaic Project 314-874-2557 |
Contact: Cathy Kelly Communications Coordinator Parkway School District 314-415-8078 |
Parkway School District Joins the Mosaic Ambassador School Program
St. Louis Mosaic Project is excited to welcome the Parkway School District – from early childhood to adult education, a total of 28 schools – to the Mosaic Ambassador School cohort. Parkway shares the same value to promote diversity and inclusion, while each school has its unique way of welcoming international families to their community. By becoming a Mosaic Ambassador School, the Parkway School District is committing to continuing their support for the foreign-born families in the St. Louis area.
Parkway Schools have programs that reflect their welcome and appreciation for students who are not from the U.S.A. Some examples of programs are Multicultural Night with international food and activities, ESOL Thanksgiving Feast with English to Speakers of Other Language families, and Passport Night where families engage in international activities to complete their passport with stamps from each activity. Parkway is also keen on the study of cultures, and their effort to be more culturally inclusive is demonstrated in their curriculum. The culturally diverse courses are especially outstanding in arts and music education, as well as in their library selection of books that are about many different cultures and also in different languages.
The Diversity in Action committee within their staff, the full and part-time ESOL teachers, and the representation in the Global Competencies District Cohort strengthen the resourcefulness of Parkway associates for international families. Parkway does not limit themselves to making only internal efforts, but they extend their outreach to other organizations and communities, which allows an impressive outcome such as reaching 100 percent of their ESOL families for teacher-parent conferences. They partner with organizations like the St. Louis County Library and the International Institute of St. Louis to widen their international education outside the classroom. Some Parkway high schools offer student exchange programs and service learning projects to Japan and Guatemala.
As a Mosaic Ambassador School, Parkway will help the St. Louis Mosaic Project distribute resources for international families.
About St. Louis Mosaic Project
The St. Louis Mosaic Project was launched in 2012 in response to an economic impact report, outlining St. Louis to be lagging in immigrant growth as well as highlighting the economic benefits of increasing its foreign-born population. The Mosaic Project is a regional initiative that is professionally managed by St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, World Trade Center St. Louis and a 32-member committee. Its goal is to transform St. Louis into the fastest growing major metropolitan area for immigration by 2025, to add 25,000 more foreign-born to the region from 2016-2025 and to promote regional prosperity through immigration and innovation. Learn more at www.stlmosaicproject.org
Read the Press Release on STL Today