Yelena in Beijing

September, 2009, Yelena begins her senior year of high school as an exchange student on the campus of Beijing Normal University High School #2. Beijing Normal University is one of China's top teacher schools; the high school is across the street from the university campus.

Yelena, along with 58 other American students, will be participating in School Year Abroad's (SYA) academically rigorous high school and second-language immersion program while living with a Chinese host family. Two of Yelena's courses will be taught in Chinese each day, but the remainder of her courses will be taught in English. Yelena will return to the U.S. just in time to graduate with her Johnston High School classmates.

Beijing, a city of over seventeen million people and capital of China, has a latitude and climate similar to Lincoln, NE. Because of concern over the H1N1 flu virus, Yelena and her fellow exchange students spent seven days in a self-imposed quarantine at Jinshanling, near the Great Wall of China and historic site of the emperor's summer resort.

SYA is a consortium of 37 U.S. independent schools led by Phillips Academy (MA); Phillips Exeter Academy (NH); and St. Paul’s School (NH) dedicated to offering students from any accredited U.S. independent or public high school the opportunity to spend the school year immersed in another culture. SYA’s schools are located in Beijing, China; Rennes, France; Viterbo, Italy; Zaragoza, Spain; and Hanoi, Vietnam. For more information about School Year Abroad, visit their website at www.sya.org.

Yelena's sister Gwendolyn will be spending fall semester 800 miles to the south as part of her junior year program at Grinnell College. See more at http://gweninhangzhou.blogspot.com/