IB juniors are  participating in Skype sessions with students of the small Adriatic Sea nation, Slovenia.

“I became friends with the teacher of the Slovenian students at a conference over this past summer,” Brooks said.

The IB students prepared for the first virtual meeting by learning about the nation.

“We researched all about Slovenian language, education, government, and how it used to be a part of the Czech Republic,” junior John Hodges, said.

The meeting was an eye-opening experience.

“We had to meet with them during first period because they are ahead of us in time. It was afternoon for them. They were younger than as, probably the equivalent of ninth grade, but they all spoke English super well,” junior Schuyler Weisel, said.

“It was a really interesting experience, and it was great because its not something that people get to experience very often. It was cool to see all the things we had in common despite being part of different cultures,” junior, Samantha Maness, said.

The students have been working on oral history projects primarily focused on World War II to share with the Slovenians. The students hope to compare the experiences of ancestors in the war and see how they differed from country to country.

“The Slovenian students showed us a video they made of one of them interviewing their grandparents about the war. It was really interesting because Slovenia, of course, is in Europe, so they experienced the war first hand. They went through German occupation, and food shortages and all that kind of stuff which differs from how Americans, who experienced the war from across an ocean, went through the time,” junior, Elizabeth Bunn, said.