Chinese Delegation to Visit CREC Metropolitan
Learning Center Tomorrow
Representatives from Connecticut’s “Sister State” Will Tour Award-Winning Magnet School

Released: September 26, 2005

(Greater Hartford) – Three representatives from China’s Shandong Province – Connecticut’s “Sister State” – will tour the CREC Metropolitan Learning Center tomorrow, September 27, at 11 a.m.  The magnet middle and high school, which features an international and global studies theme, shares a sister school relationship with the Kuiwen Experimental School in Weifang, Shandong Province.

Central Connecticut State University is hosting the delegates, who are completing a six-month public administration training program that includes an internship at the state Office of Policy and Management.  The three representatives who will tour the CREC Metropolitan Learning Center include two mayors – Tang Fu Quan of Zibo and Zhang Bin of Taian City – and the director of the news department at Shandong Province Radio, Li Changwen.

The visit will include a welcome presentation, tour and lunch.  The delegates will be greeted by the school’s upper-level Chinese language students and will meet six international students spending the year at CREC MLC, including one student from China.

In April 2006, 18 students and two teachers from the magnet school will travel to Weifang for a visit to the sister school.

The CREC Metropolitan Learning Center serves students in grades 6 through 12 from Bloomfield, East Windsor, Enfield, Hartford, Windsor and Windsor Locks with an integrated, international curriculum that emphasizes interdisciplinary global understandings.  International exchange and world languages, including Chinese, are key components of the program.  MLC has been named a magnet school of distinction three times by Magnet Schools of America and won the 2004 Goldman Sachs Award for Excellence in International Education.

About CREC
CREC is a non-profit, regional educational service center serving 35 Greater Hartford public school districts.  It was founded in 1966 by local school districts working together to solve common problems.  Today, CREC administers more than 120 programs and services spanning the entire educational spectrum with the same goal in mind.  CREC’s Division of Magnet Schools strives to offer the highest quality educational opportunities that reduce racial, ethnic and socio-economic isolation of students by initiating, developing and managing innovative educational programs.  For more information on CREC and the Metropolitan Learning Center, please visit www.crec.org/mlc.