Cheney Tech received the honor of hosting a group of Shandong Education officials from the Republic of China last month. These officials are the leaders of a delegation of principals being hosted by the Connecticut Department of Education. Chinese Deputy Commissioner Xu, who is responsible for K-12 education in the province, specifically requested a visit to a technical high school.

With Superintendent Abigail Hughes and other SDE officials in attendance, the Cheney Tech Culinary students provided breakfast for everyone in the new restaurant.  Students representing the National Honor Society and SkillsUSA attended and provided a tour of Cheney. The Cheney Tech Robotics Team 809 students demonstrated one of the robots that they had built.

The idea for partnerships between Connecticut schools and schools in Shandong Province, People's Republic of China is an outgrowth of a trade and economic partnership formed between the Chinese province and our state in 1986.  Twenty years ago, then Governor William O'Neill and the Governor of Shandong Province signed a pact to form a business relationship. As a result of the agreement, the Connecticut China-Shandong Province Council, an organization involving community leaders, educational institutions and businesses in Connecticut, was created to foster friendship, trade and other relationships between the two regions.

In 2002, the Connecticut State Department of Education received funding from the U.S. Department of Education to send a delegation of 17 teachers to conduct a field study in the Shandong Province and China.  The Shandong Provincial Commission on Education hosted the delegation.  Out of that experience the idea for establishing a relationship that would encourage collaborative programs, exchange and joint educational activities was formed.  Daniel W. Gregg, Social Studies Consultant, Connecticut State Department of Education, was appointed to facilitate educational exchanges.  In January 2003, the Connecticut State Department of Education signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreement with the Shandong Provincial Commission on Education, and from that the Sister School Exchange Project and many related educational exchanges were launched.