Alessandra Zambrano

Special to The Catholic Voice

As part of her Advanced Placement Spanish class at St. Joseph Notre Dame High School, Alessandra Zambrano '13 participated in a class Skype session with her sister, Francesca '10, who is studying abroad in Barcelona. She shared her thoughts below:

In the past two years, SJND has taken leaps in advancing technology at the school. All of the classrooms have been transformed into Smart Classrooms, equipped with projectors, web cams and sound systems. This past year, the school started a Bring Your Own Computer program for all students.

The new classrooms and the 1-to-1 computer program created the opportunity for Mrs. Norris's third period AP Spanish class to travel abroad for an international lecture. The class connected via Skype, on a student's laptop, with Francesca Zambrano '10, who is studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain.

The class got a firsthand account of the study abroad program in the state of Catalonia, Spain, which includes Barcelona, as well as a lesson on the culture there. With the laptop hooked up to the sound system, the entire class was able to participate in the lecture.

"Talking to someone who is in Spain definitely brought the lesson to life, especially since she [Francesca] took the class we are taking now," said Karina Myers '13.

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