On May 2, Debbie Brownrigg’s  second and third period English classes were granted the opportunity to Skype with Hrvoje Kristan’s English language class in Croatia, during an event known as the Crorida Skype Call.

During this video call, students from each class gave presentations about books that each class read. This call has been an annual event over the last four years and is planned at the beginning of each school year.

“This was the first year we read and discussed books,” Brownrigg said. “In the past, all we were able to do, timewise, was an email exchange and a meeting. It had previously been a general ‘this is what life is like in Florida versus in Croatia’. This was the first year we were able to do the same books.”

In the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, Brownrigg sent Kristan a list of novels her English 2 classes would read, and Kristan chose “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe and “1984” by George Orwell for his English language students to read. Members of the teachers’ respective classes created PowerPoint presentations and a few students volunteered to participate in the call by presenting the slides, including sophomore Tory Moltzan from Brownrigg’s English 2 Honors Pre-Capstone class.

“I thought it was really interesting that even though we’re really far away from them, geographically, we were studying the same things,” Moltzan said. “Also, I thought it was very cool that they knew English really well for it being their second language.”

Because of the six hour time difference between Florida and Croatia, the Skype call occurs every year during Lake Brantley’s second period. Though this is an annual tradition, the date of the call varies year to year. This year, because of conflicting school schedules, the call was delayed until both schools had free schedules.

“I was really excited to talk to different people so I was disappointed when our talk kept getting pushed back,’ sophomore Cameron Johnston said. “When we were finally able to talk, it was extremely interesting and I believe all of us learned a lot.”

This once in a lifetime opportunity brings the chance for students to connect to people living on a different continent. Despite the differences between the nations, students do find some surprising similarities in their thoughts and takeaways from the novels.

“I would like for everybody to just get a sense of unity internationally, to broaden their perspective, especially when we’re reading the same books,” Brownrigg said. “Also, the opposite; it’s interesting how we’ll take away the same things from the same books. It’s sort of an international literary outreach program to make connections with other students and expand our reading and writing skills”