GE Vice Chairman John Rice spent the morning at Toomer Elementary School with Caitlin Hickey‘s kindergarten class learning all about the ritual of their daily morning meeting and listening to them count in Mandarin to showcase Toomer’s participation in the Confucius Institute. “I feel so glad that I finally got a chance to meet you,” he told the kindergarteners. Rice is personally sponsoring Teach for America training, over a two-year period, for first-year teacher Hickey.
“I just think that public education is so important,” Rice said. “Teach for America brings bright people to the classroom and I am feeding the next generation of public-school advocates.” Rice shared his memories when his own two sons, now in college, were in kindergarten. “They were smart just like you, but you are so much smarter because they didn’t learn Mandarin when they were in kindergarten.” Also pictured is Toomer Principal Nicole Evans Jones.