International Studies

As a school, we embrace the term "glocal," which emphasizes understanding the global diversity and resources in the community where one lives prior to exploring the world beyond our borders. Global mindedness isn't only about international travel—it's also about bringing the world to us. In all three divisions, guests regularly visit classes to discuss the world beyond our borders. For example:

• A parent from Brazil comes in to meet with junior kindergarten students.
• Thirty community members, all representing different national backgrounds, are interviewed by students for the seventh-grade Global Village project.
• Country Day hosts an exchange teacher from Nanjing, China, for three months.
• On campus, our students can join a wide range of global-themed extracurricular clubs including the Global Explorers (Lower School), Model United Nations and Global Action Team (Middle School), and Model United Nations, Interact Club, International Studies Board, World Quest, Euro Challenge, and other globally themed services clubs (Upper School). Our parents are supported through the International Parent Board and the Parent Global Ambassadors.
• Off campus, students are regularly involved in community international festivals and events sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Charlotte and International House. Country Day also has strong relationships with members of the North Carolina Diplomatic Corp., consisting of honorary consuls representing over 20 countries, and regularly hosts on-campus forums, international film screens, and cultural presentations.
• Students have participated in lunches with visiting diplomats, including the ambassadors of Myanmar, Finland, Jamaica, Czech Republic, Germany, and Cape Verde. These interactions provide students with intimate insight into the world of diplomacy and a chance to interact with leaders on the world stage.

Our curriculum is infused with connection-making opportunities. For example:

• Lower School Spanish language students converse with their teacher's daughter via Skype to learn about living in Costa Rica, and third graders perform a play centered on global themes.
• Middle School students use foreign soil samples in environmental science, and they master the rules of cricket in physical education.
• Upper School students contrast the U.S. system with other countries in AP Comparative Government and choose from elective courses such as World Religions and International Relations.

Our International Baccalaureate Diploma Program—the first offered in North Carolina and the only IB diploma offered by the region's independent schools—is a globally recognized, rigorous course of study that focuses on culture, language, and world citizenship.

Our international research grants send Country Day teachers to learn in destinations throughout the world each summer and they bring their experiences, insights, and understanding of other cultures back to their classrooms.

• First comprehensive International Studies Program in Charlotte.
• First school in North Carolina to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma.
• First school in NC to visit Cuba.
• First high school in North Carolina to establish a full teacher exchange with a school in China.
• More than 70 international guest speakers including Mikhail Gorbachev, Shimon Peres, John Majors, and Lech Walesa.
• For more than 10 years, Country Day students have finished in first place at the Academic WorldQuest competition nearly every year.
• Country Day is the only independent day school in North Carolina with a full-time English as a Second Language program.

Travel is essential to Country Day’s broad approach to global mindedness, and that includes our faculty and staff. Grants and sabbaticals, funded through our endowment, parent support groups, and other organizations, make it possible for our teachers to pursue knowledge through firsthand experiences all over the globe. They bring their experiences, insights, and understanding of other cultures back to their classrooms, broadening the global perspectives of their students.

• 93 percent of our faculty and staff have traveled abroad at one point in their lives. 
• When faculty were surveyed for countries where they had lived for three months or longer, allowing for a rich and cultural immersion experience, 50 countries were identified.
• Collectively, our faculty speak over 20 languages, with greater than 100 faculty speaking a second language at the conversational level or higher.

“It is critical that the faculty at Country Day have authentic experiences that bring the curriculum to life for our students. Rather than being limited to textbooks and the internet, our students have science teachers who have researched in the Galapagos Islands, English teachers that have studied at Oxford University, and History teachers that have explored the cultures of countless countries around the world.”

Scott Waybright, Assistant Head of School

China Teacher Exchange

In 2007, Country Day was the first independent school to offer a full teacher exchange between a North Carolina high school and a high school from the People’s Republic of China. Nearly every year we send a faculty member to teach at our sister school, the High School Affiliated to Nanjing Normal University, and we welcome and host one of their teachers at Country Day.

Global Learning

Below are examples of global experiences involving Country Day teachers:

Africa: Senegal education and culture
Bahamas: Bahamian Reef Survey
Balkans: World View study trip
Brazil: Oppression in the Americas
Egypt: Politics and religion
England: Virginia Woolf research
Galapagos: Plant and animal diversity
Germany: Curriculum comparison
Greece: Global technology
Iceland: Environmental science
Ireland: Connecting life with literature
Italy: Architectural math concepts
Japan: Cultural interaction
Russia: Collaborative Web research
Spain: Exploration of America
Turkey: World Cultures art exploration

David Lynn

Director of International Studies

E-mail | (704) 943-4566

David joined Country Day as Director of International Studies in 2013. Previously he taught social studies at the American School of Paris in France, Shackleton School in Massachusetts, Linyi Yi Zhong Middle School in China, and Guzsalyas School in Hungary. An avid world traveler, David has explored over 100 countries and all 50 states. He earned his BA in history and leadership studies from the University of Richmond and his MEd from Harvard University. David currently serves on the Charlotte International Cabinet, the Board of the Global Education Benchmark Group, and is active in Rotary International. He and his wife have four children, two who currently attend Country Day.

Jessica Newman

Global Learning Coordinator

E-mail | (704) 943-4902

Jessica joined the International Studies team in 2012. Having taught French at Country Day for seven years, Jessica has a passion for all things international. Her work in the International Studies Office includes developing and leading the Canadian Sister School program from its inception. Jessica holds a BA in French from Furman University and an MA in French Literature and Language from Boston College. Most recently she was awarded two Fulbright Hays grants, which deepened her understanding of diverse cultures in Cyprus and Morocco.

In our own community, our International Parents Group, a parent volunteer organization and subgroup of the Parents' Association, provides incredible support as we build our global learning environment. Representing 45 nationalities, this group regularly volunteers with classroom activities, campus events, and organizes the International Cafe at Big Saturday, which raises over $4,300 for the school.

This group also plays a vital role in supporting global families who are new to the Country Day community, and in many case, new to the country. Learn more.