Naomi Tutu Gives International Perspective on First Day of School

West End Middle School kicked off its new academic year today with a special guest.

(Naomi Tutu)“It’s the first day of school, you can’t be tired already. Good morning!”

(children) “GOOD MORNING!”

(Tutu) “Thank you, thank you.”

Naomi Tutu is the Associate Director of International Relations at Tennessee State University and the daughter of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu. She spoke to the gathering of 5th through 8th graders about the value of the International Baccalaureate program, which will officially begin at West End Middle later this school year.

“If we are going to be a part of our whole world then we need to know about other people. We need to know about other cultures, we need to know about other languages, we need to know about other ideas that people have about what is right and what is wrong.”

Currently, three Metro high schools offer the rigorous International Baccalaureate program, which results in an internationally recognized diploma. West End will be the sixth middle school in the district to follow IB curriculum.

In addition to Metro, today was the first day of school in Sumner, Williamson and Wilson Counties. The rest of the midstate’s districts began classes earlier this month.