AASU Education Students to Make Presentation on Kazakhstan Trip

Savannah, GA—February 24, 2004—A group of education students from Armstrong Atlantic State University (AASU) will give a presentation about their trip to Kazakhstan’s capital city, Astana, on March 1. The students will wear traditional clothing and hats and will display musical instruments and other souvenirs from the country. Starting at 11:30 a.m.,traditional Kazakh food will be served, followed by a presentation that will begin at noon. The event will be held in room 157 of AASU’s University Hall.

Group members include Patrick Thomas, assistant professor of middle/secondary education at AASU, AASU students Heather Cecil, Susan Croon, and Quinton Moore, and Savannah State University student Roslynn DeLoach.

The students visited the county last December to work alongside the teachers of an Astana school for 28 days. They taught lessons on American culture, American civics, and from their areas of teaching concentration. They also got the chance to experience Kazakhstan culture by attending the opera and ballet, visiting historical sites in and around the city of Astana, meeting with civic and university education officials, and celebrating the Kazakh Independence Day on December 16.

Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet Republics located in Central Asia, declared itself independent from the Soviet Union in 1991 and has been working for the past 12 years at becoming a democratic republic. Kazakhstan has a population of just over 15 million with a very diverse cultural makeup. The country is thought to have oil reserves the size of what has been found in Saudi Arabia.

For more information about the trip to Central Asia, contact Patrick Thomas at 912.921.5547.