Participants in The Khbrat Summit Program took time to celebrate Tuesday afternoon at the Devin Center in Junction City.

The USD 475 Liason to the Khbrat Program, Susan Pender, said it’s a scholarship program through KSU where certified teachers from Saudi Arabia have partnered with the university. “They’ve placed them in schools. We have had five teachers here ( in USD 475 ). They started with a four-week observation at Washington Elementary School. then they went to the middle school for four weeks, and then they just concluded a four-week period at the high school.”

Pender explained the purpose of the program is for the teachers to see the school system here. “There are many things they’re not used to seeing, and so they each had to do a capstone project on a concept they want to take back to Saudi Arabia and try in their own country.”

This program session at Kansas State University ends in February, but K-State officials are hoping for a second round so it’s possible more teachers from Saudi Arabia could spend time in USD 475. In this first session approximately 40 teachers participated in the KSU program and were sent to multiple school districts including Geary County, Manhattan, Lawrence and the Kansas City area.