NewsUpper SchoolStudent LifeService
VIPs get quick look at Rome
Apr 27, 2006 8:59 AM
By Tannika King - Faculty
Written by Chris Marr, Rome News-Tribune Business Editor, published 4/27/06
International dignitaries representing about 20 countries got a quick look at Rome and Floyd County on Wednesday, including a greeting by the student body of Darlington School.
The visitors — Atlanta-based consuls general — stopped at the school in between tours of the Pirelli Tire manufacturing plant and State Mutual Stadium. During a short welcome in the school’s chapel, students displayed flags representing the 27 countries from which Darlington students come, and the international students briefly met the visitors from their respective home countries.
“This is a quite a special welcome,” said Brian Oak, the Atlanta-based consul general of Canada. “I think this gives all of us an idea of what education in Northwest Georgia is all about.”
Part of the international representatives’ job is to arrange international educational partnerships, and Oak said the brief visit
to Darlington gave him some new perspective on the task.
“This puts a concrete feeling to the day-to-day work that we do,” he said.
The international guests also were welcomed to a Rome Braves game at State Mutual Stadium, where one of the officials even threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the game.
The state’s annual International VIP Tour, which rotates between regions of the state from year to year, is designed to show off the state’s resources to officials who play a role in making decisions about international business investments and foreign trade.
Currently, 42 countries operate almost 2,000 internationally owned facilities in Georgia, employing over 107,000 Georgians, the state’s Department of Economic Development reports. With a record $20.6 billion in exports in 2005, Georgia is now the 13th largest exporting state in the nation.
The three-day VIP tour continued April 27 and 28, visiting other Northwest Georgia cities including Adairsville, Calhoun, Cartersville and Dalton.
International dignitaries representing about 20 countries got a quick look at Rome and Floyd County on Wednesday, including a greeting by the student body of Darlington School.
The visitors — Atlanta-based consuls general — stopped at the school in between tours of the Pirelli Tire manufacturing plant and State Mutual Stadium. During a short welcome in the school’s chapel, students displayed flags representing the 27 countries from which Darlington students come, and the international students briefly met the visitors from their respective home countries.
“This is a quite a special welcome,” said Brian Oak, the Atlanta-based consul general of Canada. “I think this gives all of us an idea of what education in Northwest Georgia is all about.”
Part of the international representatives’ job is to arrange international educational partnerships, and Oak said the brief visit
to Darlington gave him some new perspective on the task.
“This puts a concrete feeling to the day-to-day work that we do,” he said.
The international guests also were welcomed to a Rome Braves game at State Mutual Stadium, where one of the officials even threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the game.
The state’s annual International VIP Tour, which rotates between regions of the state from year to year, is designed to show off the state’s resources to officials who play a role in making decisions about international business investments and foreign trade.
Currently, 42 countries operate almost 2,000 internationally owned facilities in Georgia, employing over 107,000 Georgians, the state’s Department of Economic Development reports. With a record $20.6 billion in exports in 2005, Georgia is now the 13th largest exporting state in the nation.
The three-day VIP tour continued April 27 and 28, visiting other Northwest Georgia cities including Adairsville, Calhoun, Cartersville and Dalton.
