It seems so far away, but when Cristi Marchetti tells people she’s leaving for Northern Ireland on Jan. 25, a wave of excitement is visible in her expression.
The Lehighton Area High School English teacher is set to embark on the four-month educational experience of a lifetime as one of 45 U.S. citizens traveling abroad through the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program in 2016-17.
Marchetti will be based out of Queens University in Belfast, where she will research full service extended schools. Popular in the United Kingdom, the full service philosophy makes schools the hub of a community, with services targeted toward students and the broader population.
“I’m extremely excited about it, yet I’m trying to not to wish away the time before I leave,” Marchetti said. “I’m still enjoying every moment of this school year.”
Scheduled to leave Jan. 25, 2017, Marchetti will start her program Feb. 1 and it will run through May 31.
She will have one month from the end date to complete her inquiry project.
“The goal within 30 days is to be able to say this is how we put full service extended school into practice in Lehighton,” Marchetti said. “It should outline how many people will be needed, the liabilities, the insurance coverage, etc. All that will have to be done is to turn the key.”
Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.
After successfully completing the two-year application process, Marchetti attended an orientation in Washington, D.C., this summer, where she met other Fulbright recipients, Fulbright board members and other leaders in the educational community.
“It’s really mind-boggling the people I’ve been able to have conversations with,” she said. “Lehighton is really getting its name out there and I think that’s fantastic. When I was in Washington, the assistant secretary of education knew the name of Lehighton and was familiar with my research. When they tell you that the research you’re doing is driving educational policy, you get a little weak in the knees. I want people to look to Lehighton to see how they’re doing things when they have questions.”
Down to business
Marchetti said she plans to dive right into her work, having already set up meetings with some prominent educational officials in the United Kingdom.
They include Chris Lyttle, an education committee chairman with the Alliance Party in the East Belfast constituency; Fiona Hepper, who wrote the policy for full service extended schools with Brenda Shearer; Dr. Ian Humphreys, CEO of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful; and Emlyn Wright, headmaster of the Belfast Model School for Girls.
“All of those meetings are in the second or third week of February,” Marchetti said. “It is amazing how quickly they have opened their doors and welcomed me in to talk about the research I’m doing.”
Professor Joanne Hughes, who works at the Queen’s Centre for Shared Education in Belfast, offered Marchetti an office in her building starting Feb. 1 and will partner with her in research and implementation of the inquiry project.
A family affair
Joining Marchetti during her time across the pond will be her daughter, Vivian, a second-grade student in the Lehighton Area School District.
With the help of Lehighton administrators, Marchetti has put together an educational plan for Vivian, which includes her taking classes through Lehighton Area Virtual Academy and a partial term at the Preparatory School of Victoria College in Belfast.
“Their schooling is different,” Marchetti said.
“It’s not that you live in this community so you go to this school. There is an application process. When the spots are filled, the spots are filled. I wanted Vivian to have an authentic educational experience. We’re excited and it’s a great school. She’ll be learning French and Spanish. Their math is pretty on target with our curriculum.”
Staying in touch
Though she’ll be five hours ahead of Lehighton, Marchetti won’t be a stranger.
She plans to Skype with students on a regular basis and the school board during one of its meetings.
A blog of her activity will also be available at http://cristimarchetti.blogspot.com.
“I’ll be blogging about life over there,” she said. “For example, here in Lehighton in the fall everything is pumpkin spice, so we’ll be going out there finding what is the equivalent to that in Northern Ireland.”
A dream come true
It has long been a goal of Marchetti to become a Fulbright recipient, but she couldn’t have done it alone.
“It has been a two-year process of getting to this point and it has to be a collaboration with a lot of people for it to work,” she said. “The board, administration, teachers and students have been incredibly supportive.”
She hopes her success fuels others to pursue their dreams, one of which might be becoming a “Fulbrighter” themselves.
“One Lehighton graduate just came back and I mentioned to him that I thought it might be something he should consider applying for and I could mentor him through the application process,” Marchetti said. “I think students are starting to say, hey, I can do this too, and that is wonderful.”