World Through the Eyes of Children and Youth, 2020
Photo Contest and Exhibits in City Hall Chattanooga, USA and in Nizhny Tagil, Russia
We are making a difference in the world through citizen diplomacy. One of the latest examples was the photo exhibit of pictures made by Children and Youth from Chattanooga and our Russian Sister City of N. Tagil. The exhibit took place in Spring 2020 in Chattanooga’s City Hall. Mayor Andy Berke of Chattanooga and Karen Claypool, the President of the Sister City Association of Chattanooga participated in the opening ceremony of the Exhibit in Chattanooga. Our Russian Sister City also had an exhibit with an opening ceremony: https://www.rgo.ru/ru/article/podvedeny-itogi-fotokonkursa-sredi-molodezhi-gorodov-pobratimov-nizhnego-tagila.
The idea of citizen diplomacy is not a new one. President Eisenhower, who started the sister city movement in the world, famously said that we would change the world one person at a time through citizen diplomacy. The network of sister cities is very large and covers the entire planet. Chattanooga joined it very early and maintained sister city ties with our sister cities around the world regularly and very successfully.
These projects allowed our Chattanoogans and people in Russia to communicate via pictures and understand each other by looking at what and how children and youth in both countries see the world, and what it is they are paying attention to. It has been an eye-opening experience to many of our students and community members and certainly contributed to a better understanding between people in the two countries.
Our Chattanooga students participated actively either by submitting works for the competition or helping to organize the event or by attending the opening and the reception. They also won multiple prizes in the competition.
Flavors of the World Dinner, 2019
Special Thanks to our restaurant partners who provided food for our wonderful (and eclectic!) feast:
2503 Station Grill Greek Plate
Acropolis Grill Humphrey’s Flowers
Adelle’s Creperie Kabob-ster
Alex Thai Bistro Mayan Kitchen
Bela Lisboa Olive Branch
Café & Toast Provino’s
Chili’s Grill Public House
Edley’s Bar-B-Que Rodizio Grill
Food City Southern Star
Forbidden City Starbucks
Formosa Taco Mamacita
The Fresh Market Walden Club
Gadzooks
Chinese New Year, 2019
The Year of the Pig
Sister Cities members at PF Chang’s to celebrate the Year of the Pig!
Chinese New Year is the most important festival in China. It began almost 4,000 years ago and celebrates the beginning of a new year on the lunar calendar. This year, New Year’s falls on Feb 5 and begins the year of “Pig” in the Chinese Zodiac.
The “Pig” symbolizes such character traits as diligence, compassion, generosity and optimism. Pigs enjoy life and because they are entertaining, others enjoy their company.
Some of the the traditions for Chinese New Year include fireworks; lion/dragon dance; decorating doors and windows with red signs and words to symbolize good luck and prosperity; adults gift red envelopes filled with money to children; and families have a grand feast with dumplings, fish and long noodles.
Wuxi > Chattanooga Delegation Visit, 2018
On Nov. 7, 2018 - Wuxi government sent a 6-person delegation to Chattanooga, led by Ms. Gao Hui, the Vice Chairwoman of Wuxi Municipal Committee of the CPPCC, China. The purpose of the visit was to have deep discussion of collaboration in the areas of smart city construction, innovation, and entrepreneurship, as well as the possibilities of educational and cultural exchange programs between our two cities.
During the visit, the delegation met and had breakfast with EPB management leaders and engineers. They toured the EPB control room and learned how EPB operates and provides commercial and residential services in Chattanooga. The delegation was amazed by our advanced technology and would like to pass a recommendation to the Wuxi government to bundle the Internet, TV, and Phone services together.
Their meeting with Chattanooga City Council members was very fruitful. The conversations, led by Chairman Ken Smith and Ms. Gao Hui, covered areas of how both cities run their governments, elections of the city officials, how the budget is distributed, what city programs benefit the citizens, as well as the topics of festivals, sports, and education. Both parties promised more visits, collaborations, and exchanges.
During their visit with Hamilton County School Superintendent, Dr. Bryan Johnson, the delegation shared a video of sending exchange high school students to their sister cities around the world. Dr. Johnson expressed his interest in visiting Wuxi schools and would like to start the exchange programs with Wuxi soon. Both parties learned similarities and differences of the educational systems from each other and shared ideas.
In the evening, the City of Chattanooga staff hosted a BBQ dinner for the delegation at the City Hall, the delegation showed City staff a video of Wuxi, and everyone enjoyed a wonderful meal and great conversation.
The visit was very successful; there were gift exchanges and warm welcomes. Both Wuxi and Chattanooga had learned a lot from each other through this visit. Future plans will come!
Russian Night at UTC
Students were given an opportunity to talk to Russians and learn more about life in Russia. Then, students could join in a conversation with Russians (from Russia, via satellite), members of the Political Science Club, members of the Chattanooga Sister City Association, and citizens of Chattanooga about Russia.
Details of the event:
Guests were invited to try some Russian foods (Courtesy UTC Office of International Students; Scholar Services)
Greeting by Dr. Deardorff, Department Head, Political Science and Public Service
Greeting by Karen Claypool, President of the Sister City Association of Chattanooga
Connection via Skype with the university in our Russian sister city of Nizhny Tagil.
Three Russian Professors and ten students spoke to the group via videoconference.
Presentations by Alexandra Korshun, UTC Student and Kelsey Christian, UTC Student, and Sofya Gneusheva
Live connection with Ohio State University. Brenden Wood (Ohio State) shared his Russian experiences via videoconferencing from Ohio.
