Giving its school a global perspective

Students at Lawrence Woodmere Academy in Woodmere are gaining a greater global perspective as 29 of the school’s enrollment of 278 are from China, which boosted the total international student population by 18 percent this year.

The international student population has increased steadily in the 24 years Director of Admissions Elizabeth Glazer has been at LWA to 47 currently. “We’ve always attracted an Israeli population because of our close proximity to Kennedy Airport and a Korean population because of our proximity to Queens,” she said. “About five years ago, with the support of the board of trustees, we were able to offer Mandarin as a foreign language to help our students develop a better understanding of Chinese culture.”

According to Glazer, recruiting companies contacted the school to inquire about admissions for Chinese students. Once recruiting companies submitted student’s portfolio to Glazer for review, she conducted an interview for potential LWA students over the Skype website. “The technology today allowed me to interview the students to see how well they speak and understand English and to see their talents,” she said. “It’s a wonderful way to evaluate students.”

English and drama teacher Kathleen Glasberg said international students bring new life to the LWA campus. “I’m so happy to see these enthusiastic, smiling faces, eager to learn and gain an American experience,” she said. “I feel enriched by their presence and have learned so much from them.”

James Luo is a LWA sophomore who hails from China and is currently living with his mother in Woodmere. “This is a very nice, beautiful place,” he said of the school’s campus. “My favorite part is music, history class and band. I’m also on the soccer team.”

When asked what he brings to LWA, Luo, who studies music at Julliard School in Manhattan on Saturdays, said his musical talents and Chinese culture. “I like to tell my classmates stories about my culture and how we celebrate holidays,” he said. “There were also 50 to 60 kids in my class in China and now I have 10 or 15.”

Jack Xu, another sophomore from China, is spending his second year in America and transferred to LWA from a boarding school in Maine because he felt he wasn’t being exposed to American culture as much as he’d like. “It was cold there and I wanted more activities and to learn about America,” he said. “The study atmosphere here is better and the teacher’s attitudes towards the students is great and I’m learning something.”

Xu said he would like to stay in America for college. “After college, I’d like to work in America and then go back to China someday,” he said. “My dream is to be an NBA basketball player but if that doesn’t work out, I’d like to be a businessman like my father.”

LWA also boasts Israeli, Korean, Taiwanese and Brazilian students. Junior, Rokas Lapsys, is from Lithuania and has been at LWA for just over a month. “Everyone is nice and helpful here, I really like the school,” he said. “I’ve been playing basketball for 11 years so I’m joining the basketball team and I love the English and arts classes.”

Lapsys enjoys sharing some Lithuanian traditions with his classmates. “Everyone here says I’m so polite because I open doors for girls but those are the rules in Lithuania — to let the girls go first,” he said. “The food is completely different here because there are no fast food places, just McDonald’s in my country and hardly anyone goes there.”

Gili Yonatan, a freshman from Israel, lives with her family in Hewlett and said the language has been the biggest difference since coming to America. “In Israel there were 40 kids in each class and the teachers came to us as opposed to here where the classes are small and we go to the teachers,” she said.

She plans to graduate early and return to Israel in three years to join the Israeli army before attending a university. Although she doesn’t know what she wants to do for a career, Yonatan said, “I just want to be a nice person.”

International students are paired with an LWA student ambassador who answers any questions they have and encourages them to get involved in extra curricular activities, Glazer said. “The more they get involved outside of the classroom the more they’ll feel part of our school community and a part of the American culture,” she said.