The first week of December PIHS students may have noticed a well-dressed and soft-spoken stranger in the halls. David St. John, originally from Norwich, England, was visiting Presque Isle High School, and, indeed, the United States for the first time, from Nanning, China. St. John moved to China three years ago to be a teacher at Nanning No 3, International High School in the southwest schools in Nanning. St. John has taught there for two years, and this September he transitioned to the position of foreign teacher manager. This role consists of overseeing the other three foreign teachers, their curriculum, discipline, along with what they do with the students.

PIHS and Nanning No 3, International High School have a partnership with Presque Isle High School, and students there receive both a Chinese and American diploma.  Our sister school in China has two directors, and St. John is one of them. He implements PIHS curriculum and oversees students. According to Melanie Junkins, SAD1 International Student Coordinator, David works closely with a team at PIHS in order to implement our curriculum and standards.

“I am very impressed by the facilities and opportunities along with all the different clubs,” said St. John of his observations of PIHS. “I felt like there was a lot of energy in the halls. Everybody was hustling and bustling in between classes,” he said. 

St. John hopes to come back and visit America again. “I have some friends here already in different parts of America, and one day I’d like to visit them,” he said. He flew back to China to continue work and didn’t have time to explore some of the parts of America he’d like to see. “I’d like to see some of the parks here that are really famous and detailed,” said St. John.

While St. John was here he put together a presentation to encourage other Chinese students to come to Presque Isle High school. Right now there are four students here from China. St. John would like to see more Chinese students come to Presque Isle, but he would also love to take PIHS students to his school in Nanning to show what it is like there. “You would be treated like superstars,” St. John said.  “Everyone would want to talk to you about America.”