Eisenhower International School Fifth Graders
Study in San Luis Potosi

Nine Eisenhower International School fifth grade Student Ambassadors spent eight weeks studying at Instituto Cervantes in San Luis Potosi Mexico.

Amy Cairns, Evan Charney, Brandon Evans, Jill Gehring, Brooke Gould, Trevor Grant, Mary Kathryn Jarnigan, Noah Lewis, and Megan Mathewson represented Eisenhower, Tulsa, Oklahoma and the United States as emissaries to Tulsa's Mexican Sister City. Senor Leonardo de Andrade. Senora Jackie Delgado and Senora Maria Perez were the chaperones.

Both students and teachers live in homes, speaking Spanish and experiencing the rich Mexican culture. San Luis is a beautiful colonial town in central Mexico.

The Eisenhower group's departure date was September 24.

Eleven Mexican students with two chaperones arrived at EIS on October 2 for eight weeks. Twenty- six Eisenhower families and staff members opened their homes and hearts to the visitors. The eleven students study in Eisenhower classrooms enriching the entire school.

The student exchange is in its 13th year. It was born at a Sister Cities Summit held in Tulsa in 1992 that a group of educators from Instituto Cervantes attended. A very close relationship between the schools has strengthened the strong Sister City Relationship between Tulsa and San Luis. At that time, the Eisenhower Exchange was the only elementary academic exchange in the United States and was instituted during Eisenhower International School's very first year.

Emily Wood accompanied a delegation, led by then Mayor Susan Savage, for the initial paper signing.

The first students, now in their twenties, look back on the experience as life changing. The exchange is a wonderful example of building world peace one student or one family at a time, in which very staff member and student at Eisenhower contributes.