January 2012 AC Debrecen went on an outreach to Sárospatak and Sátoraljaújhely. Árpád Vezér Gimnázium (Sárospatak) hosted our small American Culture Quiz, where six groups from two local high schools participated. The next day ÁVG and V. István Katolikus Közgazdasági és Informatikai Szakközépiskola (Sátoraljaújhely) hosted presentations by Ms. Robin Whitford, Fulbright Teaching Assistant about Fast Food in the U.S., Holidays in the U.S. and Iowa.
Students were also informed about EducationUSA, study opportunities in the States and summer programs like the Benjamin Franklin Fellowship.
Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton mentioned American Corner Debrecen as one of the several examples of creative engagement that should be the model for US diplomacy in the first Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review in December 2010.
Social Science Education Consortium Annual Meeting
Social Science Education Consortium held two session of its Annual Meeting in Debrecen this year. The main organizer of the event, Prof. Murry R. Nelson, former Fulbright grantee and Orszagh Laszlo Chair spent one year teaching at the University of Debrecen and attending AC events in 2007/08. The two institutions hosted the Meeting's sessions in Debrecen on June 21-22.
Every participant, who are all distinguished university professors and social science experts, generously donated one or two books to the American Corner's Library. The items can all be borrowed from June 24.
We hope we can welcome back the professors sometime soon!
EducationUSA Outreach in Sarospatak
AC Debrecen did an EducationUSA outreach event in Sarospatak (Northeast Hungary) on May 10-11.
Barbara Coons, Fulbright grantee who has been a constant help in the Corner and Dora Barta, AC director and educational adviser ran 3 programs for the students of Arpad Vezer High School. Monday evening 26 students attended a movie screening and participated in the 30-minute discussion afterwards. Tuesday morning a lively presentation was offered about American Teenager Life. During three classes roughly 120 students got acquainted with American high school and college life. Apart from Barbara’s funny personal anecdotes, students learnt useful details about how to apply to college and where to look for more information. A Q&A session closed the classes: for US-related questions students got pencils and rulers. Tuesday afternoon an open English Conversation Hour took place at the castle. 15 student aged 15-18 showed up and asked about American cities, food, scholarships, English language learning tips, etc. This time there was no need for encouraging prizes; enthusiastic students made us stay for an additional half hour.
Beside the interactive programs with students, AC Debrecen donated 40 books, about 80 periodicals and dozens of EducationUSA informational CD's to the school thus contributing to the growth of the library’s very small collection of English language materials. The principal, teachers and students are always very welcoming to AC visits and we are happy that we were able to stir up school life a little bit again.
Ambassador Kounalakis and her family visited the AC on April 13, 2010. She talked to more than 30 students from three local high schools encouraging them to consider continuing their education at a US institution. She also called their attention to the US Embassy's Tolerance Video Competition with an extended application deadline (May 3, 2010).
Ambassador Kounalakis gave a talk at the University of Debrecen and visited the National Instruments plant as well.
Hungarian-American Relations
Presentation series and virtual university in Debrecen
The American Corner in Debrecen in cooperation with the Fulbright Alumni Debrecen Chapter and the American Alumni Society launched a series on Hungarian-American relations to educate Hungarians about the history of and the interactions between the two nations.
The series was opened on February 9, 2010 by Dan Travis, consul (U.S. Embassy, Budapest). In his opening speech he emphasized the parallels between our cultures and the importance of the complex and multi-faceted relations between the U.S. and Hungary.
As Secretary Clinton pointed it out in her Internet Freedom Speech in January 2010, the internet has “opened up new forums for exchanging ideas” and “there are more ways to spread more ideas to more people than at any moments in history”. We hope that with the help of the World Wide Web, we will be able to reach out to Hungarians who are, for geographical, economical, health or other reasons, unable to attend our events in person. Providing an opportunity to Hungarian-speakers to gain a deeper understanding of the historical background and the development of the two country’s relationship is our tool in working for fruitful relations in the future.
All the talks are available online and may be checked out from the American Corner Library.
1. From Captain John Smith to Farkas Sándor Bölöni: Chapters From the History of Hungarian-American Relations Before 1848by Dr. Csaba Levai (History Department, University of Debrecen)
Link to 1st part of 8: http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericanCornerDEB#p/u/74/K2XCBG13BY0 2."So That This Great Nation Will Unite": The Kossuth-Emmigration and the Civil War by István Kornél Vida (Institute of English and American Studies, University of Debrecen)
Link to 1st part of 9: http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericanCornerDEB#p/u/74/K2XCBG13BY0
4.Double Emigration - Hungarian Emigration to the United States through Germany1919-41 by Tibor Frank (Institute of English and American Studies Eötvös Lóránd University)
Link to 1st part of 9: http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericanCornerDEB#p/u/19/Re2KKROsxMo
5. Trianon and the Monroe Doctrine - The United States and the Question of Revision by Dr. Éva Mathey, (Institute of English and American Studies, University of Debrecen)
Link to 1st part of 8: http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericanCornerDEB#p/u/47/IBey2ffH36U
7. The Normalization of Hungarian-American Relations and the Return of the Holy Crown by Dr. Tibor Glant (Institute of English and American Studies, University of Debrecen)
Link to 1st part of 6: http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericanCornerDEB#p/u/29/SZQLBH0qy7I
9.From the Embassy to the White House - Hungarian-American Relations during the Millenium through the Eyes of a Diplomat by Gábor Turi (International Office, University of Debrecen)
Link to 1st part of 7:http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericanCornerDEB#p/u/6/xmWqbQdZ3no
As the result of cooperation between the American Chamber of Commerce, National Instruments Hungary and American Corner Debrecen, the young engineers and IT specialists of the future spend a summer week dedicated to one of their favorite pastimes, programming. With the help of experienced instructors, they build LEGO robots and program them to follow simple as well as complex instructions. Beside all the educational activities, the boys – who came from Kossuth Lajos Primary School and Arany János Primary School – had some time for fun too!
