Tuscaloosa Schools to Triple International Student Trips Starting Thanks to Elevate Funds
Tuscaloosa City Schools will send as many as three groups of students abroad each year starting in 2027, after the city committed Elevate Tuscaloosa money to triple offerings from the district’s Sister Cities programs.
High school students have been traveling to Tuscaloosa’s sister cities for decades through the Ambassador Program, alternating summers between Narashino, Japan and Schorndorf, Germany. Students live with host families, attend local schools and spend their days the way their hosts do. Students from those cities make the same trip in reverse.
The city’s investment adds two more trips a year on top of that rotation.
Japan, Germany and Ghana
Twenty TCS students went to Narashino this past summer. The reciprocal trip to Schorndorf is set for summer 2027.
The two new 2027 trips are a Global Classrooms study abroad trip over spring break in March focused on European arts and culture, and an exploratory Ambassador Program delegation to Sunyani-Techiman, Ghana, Tuscaloosa newest Sister City, in the fall.
“Through our Ambassador Program and Global Classrooms program, Tuscaloosa City Schools students now have opportunities to experience three distinct cultures across three regions of the world: Asia, Europe and Africa,” said Shelley Dorrill, executive director of Tuscaloosa Sister Cities International. “These experiences go beyond travel, allowing students to build meaningful international relationships, broaden their perspectives and help them discover how much we share across cultures. The city’s investment will allow us to bring these opportunities to more students.”
Tuscaloosa joined the Sister Cities International in 1986, whose original mission was to unify the residents of municipalities in nations once in conflict during World War II. Its sister cities are Narashino, Schorndorf and Sunyani-Techiman.
A First Delegation to Ghana
The Ghana trip is new ground for the district.
“While a few TCS students have had opportunities to travel to Ghana in the past, this will be the first time we send a large student delegation focused on building direct connections and friendships with students in Sunyani-Techiman,” said Andrew Maxey, the district’s representative to Tuscaloosa Sister Cities International. “These experiences allow students to see firsthand how people in other parts of the world live, learn and interact. They return home with a greater understanding of other cultures and a new appreciation for the opportunities available to them.”
More is planned for 2028, including a spring break Global Classrooms trip to Japan built around science, technology, engineering and math, the Ambassador Program’s regular summer exchange, and a second Ghana trip focused on history and diplomacy.
Superintendent Mike Daria credited the city.
“International travel can change the way students see the world and their own possibilities,” Daria said. “We are grateful to Mayor Walt Maddox and the city of Tuscaloosa for investing in opportunities that will help more of our students develop a global perspective.”
Maddox said the council deserves part of the credit.
“Thanks to Elevate Tuscaloosa and the support of the City Council, we are making it possible for more students to participate in these life-changing experiences, helping them build global awareness, gain confidence and return home with a deeper appreciation of the opportunities before them,” Maddox said.
Who Can Go
Students must be sophomores or juniors at one of the district’s three high schools. Selection runs through an application and an interview.
The traditional summer exchanges are subsidized, and students who go typically pay around $1,500. More information is at tuscsci.org.
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