Outside the Box – Juliann Talkington and David Kozan
On Monday, Elena Rankin, founder and former principal of First Christian Gymnasium, a private school in Kaluga, Russia, and her family visited the Panama City Renaissance School. Kaluga is located about 120 miles southwest of Moscow. The school offers advanced academics and training in English and has fifty students. When the school opened ten years ago, it was operated as a private school. To avoid the significant regulatory challenges associated with operating a private institution in Russia, the school is now operated as a home school. First Christian Gymnasium initially had a rocky relationship with the nearby public school. After the students from the First Christian offered to represent the public school in academic competitions, the relationship improved substantially. During their visit to the PCRS, Elena and her family observed in the Level 60 English/History class and taught the students a few words of Russian.