Hosting our Aussie friends

The eighth annual Costa Mesa-Wyndham, Australia Sister-City Education Exchange got off to a wonderful start this week with the arrival of Australian educators Jane Motley and Diana Pongrac.

Motley, a primary reading and transition from pre-school to kindergarten specialist, and Pongrac, a primary art specialist and classroom teacher, will spend two weeks in Costa Mesa learning about our education system and sharing information about theirs.

In the days since their arrival, Motley and Pongrac have spoken at the Harbor Council PTA and been introduced at the Costa Mesa City Council. They enjoyed a warm welcome to Costa Mesa at a dinner attended by committee members and hosts and Newport-Mesa Unified School District trustee Serene Stokes and her husband, Sid, active members of the Newport Beach Sister-City Assn.

The Aussie educators were also guests of the Costa Mesa Lions Club, which gives much financial support to this program.

All visiting Australian educators are hosted by Newport-Mesa school district educators and shadow them in our schools while also enjoying the numerous educational, civic, social and tourist activities planned.

My daughter, Stacy de Boom, the district's after-school program specialist, is hosting Pongrac, who spent time at Pomona Elementary School with teacher Brittany Emal. Pongrac hosted my daughter during her trip to Australia as an "ambassador" in July 2005.

Motley is being hosted by Victoria Elementary School teacher, and delegate to Australia in 1999, Marilyn Wright and her husband, Bob; Harbor Council PTA President Michele Graham and family; and California Elementary School teacher Cindy Ronquillo and her husband, Ralph.

The Sister-City Education Exchange -- founded in 1997 by Sue Smith, past president of the Harbor Council and Estancia, TeWinkle and Adams PTAs -- promotes greater cultural and educational awareness and understanding of differences while exploring and appreciating the many similarities.

All ambassadors help to fulfill the objectives of strengthening the educational component of the Sister-City agreement between the city of Costa Mesa and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District with their counterparts in Wyndham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne. The adult exchange was expanded last year to include students with Estancia High School serving as the host high school.