![group of students with Ukraine flag]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1676467313/icsbudapestorg/ebnj43im8bsh7tmxtzko/IMG_363811.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1676467313/icsbudapestorg/ebnj43im8bsh7tmxtzko/IMG_363811.jpg","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1676467313/icsbudapestorg/ebnj43im8bsh7tmxtzko/IMG_363811.jpg","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_4/v1676467313/icsbudapestorg/ebnj43im8bsh7tmxtzko/IMG_363811.jpg","width":1200},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_5/v1676467313/icsbudapestorg/ebnj43im8bsh7tmxtzko/IMG_363811.jpg","width":1600},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_6/v1676467313/icsbudapestorg/ebnj43im8bsh7tmxtzko/IMG_363811.jpg","width":2200}])
This week ICSB had the privilege of hosting twelve middle grades students and four teachers from the New Generation School for a two-day mini-conference on the topic of “Learning and Leading.” It was a great experience for our visitors and ICSB.
New Generation is a bilingual Ukrainian school currently learning on two campuses - one in Kyiv, Ukraine, and one in Brana, Czechia.
The war in Ukraine prompted most of the families from New Generation in Kyiv to flee the country last February. Many of these families settled near Brana, Czechia, and established a new campus for the school. Some families have since returned to Kyiv and reopened the campus there.
In looking for a way to reunite the students from the two campuses, New Generation's director approached Ros Barnes, ICSB's curriculum coordinator and an ACSI representative, about any upcoming conferences ACSI was offering that would allow the two campuses to get together. While ACSI did not have anything upcoming that would work for the middle grades students, Ms. Barnes thought, "Why couldn't ICSB be the place to bring the campuses together?"
Ms. Barnes and ICSB's Chaplain, Dan Bishop, invited our Middle Grades House Council to join them in leading the conference, and ICSB families graciously opened their homes to provide a place for the students to stay. The New Generation students traveled here to see old friends, make new friends, and take a deep dive into what it means to find identity in Christ and how to use that identity to be a leader for the glory of the Lord. The students spent time looking at God's word, with the key verse of the meeting being:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. - 2 Corinthians 5:17-18
For the Kyiv students, this meeting also represented a respite from the war carrying on all around them at home and a chance just to be kids.
Ms. Barnes shared, "It was a pleasure to provide these students an opportunity to be together again. The ICSB community opened its doors and hearts to make this come together. Mr. Bishop played an integral role in facilitating the meeting, and ICSB's Middle Grades House Council did a great job of being welcoming leaders."