Thursday, January 15th, 2009
Photo by Margie Wuebker/The Daily Standard

Marion Local Superintendent Carl Metzger, right, and Meng Xianbin, foreign affairs director for The Affiliated Middle School of Jining Institute in China's Shangdong Institute, point to the Mercer County school's logo as a means of illustrating a proposed sisterhood that would replace the current Mandarin Chinese program with one called Confucius Classroom. Marion would become one of 200 school districts in the world to adopt the language and culture concept. Looking on is Shao Jingjing, an exchange teacher in the district for nearly two years.

Additional pictures on this date