Fifth-grade students at Banks and Goshen elementary schools had a cultural experience like no other on Monday.

As participants in Troy University’s International Education Week, the students had opportunities to be involved the process of making crafts from different regions of the world and to learn about some of the customs of those regions.

Ashley King, Troy University International Student Advisor, said the craft projects were designed to expose the students to different cultures and to also give them a better understanding of these cultures and a deeper appreciation for the rather simple crafts that are traditional to the cultures.

Troy University international students and Trojan Ambassadors volunteered as group leaders for the activities. They demonstrated the crafts and also assisted the students in carrying out the projects.

“The students rotated among the different craft areas and each student had an opportunity to participate in each craft,” King said. “The students constructed Japanese lanterns, created sand art, learned to eat with chopsticks, made working paper windmills and learned to write their names in different languages. This event was a good way to introduce students in Pike County to other parts of the world.”

Brandi DeSandro, Pike County Indian Education teacher, said participation in International Education Week at Troy University was a fun, exciting and learning experience for the fifth-grade students.

“The students learned about crafts that students in different countries make and they had a chance to see how difficult it would be for them to eat with chopsticks and how involved it can be to write in a different language,” DeSandro said. “They also had an opportunity to interact with several university students, including international students. It was a great experience for our students.”

Chris Simonds, GES, said he would like to visit other countries and learn about their cultures.

“I’d really like to go to Japan,” he said. “People live different ways and I’d like to know more about them.”

International students from Saudi Arabia, China, Thailand, Tunisia and Japan participated in the International Education Week activity along with about 130 students from the Pike County School System.