Newark students visit Warren Exchange program culminates with students from city visiting newfound friends in country. Saturday, January 13, 2007 • By DANIEL HAUSMANN • The Express-Times LOPATCONG TWP. | Middle school students welcomed their counterparts from Newark as part of a cultural exchange. A dozen students from Avon Avenue Elementary School and their teachers traveled to Lopatcong Township on Friday morning. "We definitely feel very welcome," Avon teacher Regina Sherrod said. "It's really different." Students were teamed up in groups of four during the middle part of the day. They ate lunch together and did team-building exercises. They also attended math, science and language arts classes together. The students had disposable cameras, which Lopatcong Superintendent Michael Rossi will use for a presentation Feb. 22 in Panther Valley. The experience was a chance to study the differences and similarities between an urban school and a growing suburban district. "We strive to make it similar to this," Avon counselor Gleida Capers said. "You learn that although they are different, they're still the same." This was a follow-up to a Dec. 7 trip by Lopatcong students to Newark. Students were able to make friends and exchange e-mails with their counterparts. "We found in Newark the ice-breaking took a half-hour," Rossi said. "But today it took less than five minutes." Avon eighth-grader Rachel Byrd was eating pasta with some new friends. "I like the school," Byrd said. "I think they have a better curriculum and have a better way of teaching." Lopatcong Middle School is quite different from Avon. First, Lopatcong is grades five through eight, while Avon is kindergarten through eighth. Lopatcong Middle School is also three years old; Avon is closer to 100. Avon science teacher Ed Crisafuli said when it comes down to it, education is the same. "I think a good teacher can do a good job no matter where they are," Crisafuli said. "Kids seem to learn the same way, react to things the same way. At the heart of a school, it's a school." An $8,750 grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation funded the project. Reporter Daniel Hausmann can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at dhausmann@express-times.com. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used by NJ.com with permission.