Sister schools build on Jewish pioneer’s legacy

 

Teacher Skye Oluwa is flanked on left by Bobby and Norman Greene of the Louis Rose Society and on the right by Principal Nestor Suarez and Teacher Rose Andres of Cabrillo Elementary School
Teacher Skye Oluwa is flanked on left by Bobby and Norman Greene of the Louis Rose Society and on the right by Principal Nestor Suarez and Teacher Rose Andres of Cabrillo Elementary School

 

By Donald H. Harrison

Donald H. Harrison
Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO –In an effort to promote international friendship, a Jewish organization on Thursday, April 17, presented a school teacher with round trip airline tickets to … Germany.

The teacher, Skye Oluwa, a member of the faculty at Cabrillo Elementary School in the Point Loma area of San Diego, will stay at the home of teacher Dorothee Fetz of the village of Neuhaus an-der-Oste, a river town near the North Sea.  There, she will soak up local culture, make presentations about San Diego and its school system, and gather ideas for making the “sister” relationship between the two schools stronger.

The tickets were presented on Thursday, April 17, to Oluwa by Norman Greene and his wife Bobby as Cabrillo’s Principal Nestor Suarez and German teacher Rose Andres looked on.  Norman is president of the Louis Rose Society for the Preservation of Jewish History, and Bobby has served as the society’s liaison to the elementary school located at 3120 Talbot Street in the Point Loma neighborhood along San Diego Bay.

Rose was the first Jewish settler in San Diego, arriving in 1850.  He was the man for whom Rose Canyon was named, because he had the area’s first tannery there, and he also was the man who in the late 1860s developed the town of Roseville which is now part of the Point Loma neighborhood.  The pioneer was born in Neuhaus-an-der-Oste, Germany,  in 1807, and thus the historic connection between the two schools, which both are close to bodies of water.  Rose died in 1888, and several years later his daughter, Henrietta Rose, became the first teacher at Roseville Elementary School, which was  a forerunner of Cabrillo Elementary School.

Doris Henningson, principal, and Dorothee Fetz, a teacher of the Grundschule at Neuhaus a.d. Oste,  visited Cabrillo Elementary School in late 2011, and Cabrillo Elementary School was invited to send one of its teachers in an exchange visit.

Since the visit by Henningson and Fetz, pupils at the two elementary schools have become pen pals, have learned the rudiments of each other’s language and to sing some of the songs of each other’s countries, and have worked on and exchanged similar art projects.  There are bulletin board displays about the Neuhaus Grundschule in Cabrillo’s library and auditorium.

Oluwa who had helped to organize hospitality for the German visitors, was selected by principal Suarez to be the exchange teacher representing Cabrillo Elementary School. It is quite a two-week visit (including the long flights back and forth) that Neuhaus has planned for her!

In a letter outlining the itinerary she will follow later in the semester, Henningson said that Oluwa will meet the staff and other personnel of the school, help plan and teach an English lesson, learn the differences between the two school systems, meet with faculty and students at nearby schools, hobnob with such officials as the mayor of Neuhaus and Cadenberge, and visit historical sites, including places where Louis Rose lived before he immigrated to the United States.  The Louis Rose Society hopes that in the course of the sister school relationship, more information than is presently known about Rose’s early life in what was then the Kingdom of Hanover will be discovered.

Since embarking upon the Sister School program, Cabrillo Elementary School has received a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Defense Department to teach German, which is considered a “strategic language.”  Besides paying the salary for the German teacher Andres, the grant enables the school to hire teaching interns direct from Germany who can model their language and teach about their customs.   Currently, the school is seeking families in the Point Loma area who would be willing to host one or two young teachers for a semester or a year.  A small stipend is available.  Those interested should call Principal Suarez at (619) 223-7154.

In 2004, the Louis Rose Society participated in a ceremony at which  the City of San Diego named a piece of land where the Boat Channel and Womble Street intersect as “Louis Rose Point” in recognition of Rose’s important impact on the area.  The ceremony occurred during  the 350th anniversary year of Jewish settlement in North America, when municipalities across the nation recognized aspects of their local Jewish history.  A monument and plaque in Rose’s honor subsequently were  placed at the location, with roses behind it planted by students from Cabrillo Elementary School.

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Harrison, who wrote the biography of Louis Rose,  is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  The founding president of the Louis Rose Society, and a current member of its board, he may be contacted for more information  at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com or via (619) 265-0808.