Irmak Visitors Become Acquainted with Cranbrook and Detroit

Visitors from the Irmak School in Istanbul returned to Turkey on Friday after 12 days of activities and sharing at all divisions of Cranbrook Schools. They had received a warm welcome in the dorms, and during the first week of their visit, they made new friends at the Upper School and visited classes. Over the weekend, they toured downtown Detroit with Portia Hedgespeth, the Henry Ford Museum with Erika Hansinger, and experienced Super Bowl Sunday in America.

Irmak students Ece Hamdioglu, Baran Heybeli and Elif Sen gave presentations to the Girls Middle School sixth grade at the invitation of Debbie Dietrich, and to several classes at Brookside, as arranged by Dr. Shirley Nuss. They created a skit for Holly Arida's Middle East class, and got personal instruction from Lynn Bennett-Carpenter in the Kingwood Weaving Studio.

Our visitors were shown around the Cranbrook Institute of Science by Director, Dr. Mike Stafford, and received a guided tour through Cranbrook Art Museum with Dr. Jeffrey Welch. Accompanied by John Twedt to a Pistons game, the Irmak visitors were caught on the camera that broadcasts throughout the stadium.

During their lunch with Director of Schools, Arlyce Seibert, the Irmak student Ece Hamdioglu described the students' feelings about their stay at Cranbrook: "The longer we stay, the more we like it. We just don't want to leave Cranbrook."

Faculty Liason to the Irmak and Cranbrook Schools Cooperation, Holly Arida, was thrilled with community response to the visit and looks forward to facilitating more exchanges between our schools. Senior May candidates for Turkey this year, Arielle Mack, Brittany Smith and Nils Peterson, were able to interact with our visitors and hope to see them in Istanbul this spring.