DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997                TAG: 9704230095

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 2E   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SCOTT MCCASKEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   65 lines

STONEBRIDGE SENIORS TAKE MISSION TO SLOVAK REPUBLIC TEENS SHARE THEIR VIEWS OF THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALS IN ECONOMICS AND GOVERNMENT.

A group of seniors didn't spend their spring break in the usual high school fashion. Instead of cruising the boulevard and hanging out at local haunts, they were talking history, politics and religion with citizens of the Slovak Republic, formerly part of Czechoslovakia.

For two weeks in March and April, nine seniors, a history teacher, and the principal from Chesapeake's StoneBridge Christian school shared language and culture with a group of Slovakian students in the capital city of Bratislava.

The seniors were there to help the Slovakians improve their English and to exchange philosophies about democracy and a Biblical view of government and economics. Informal classes were held at Bratislava's Logos Center, which houses a unit of the Youth With A Mission organization, YWAM, an international Christian ministry based in the United States.

``This was a method of not just teaching English, but how the gospel applies to life,'' said StoneBridge Principal Mark H. Keating. ``The Slovaks were highly motivated, and that helped open the door for talk about a multitude of subjects.''

Discussion sessions were designed to be an exercise in a casual exchange of English, and politics was often the subject. Many of the country's officials are former communists, and the citizens are leery of the old regime.

``The Slovaks initially seemed to be predisposed to being distrustful of people because of the former communist government,'' said G. Will Brown III, 18, of Portsmouth. ``They didn't understand the connection between spiritual matters and how they flow to the political realm, how the character of the people and religious fundamentals show in our government. It was a real blessing for them to be able to open up with us and talk freely.''

Emiley L. Erb, 17, also from Portsmouth, said the conversations were very philosophical, often focusing on freedom of speech and religion.

``We talked about how they could rebuild their society to be by the people and for the people, and how God gave government to man as an institution,'' she said. ``Many of the students were young teen-agers and wanted to know all about voting. The idea of voting was phenomenal to them. . . . Now, I have an idea what they went through under communism.''

This marked the third consecutive year that a group of StoneBridge seniors have been to the Logos Center. StoneBridge history teacher Gai M. Ferdon previously taught at the center and helped coordinate the visits. This year's trip cost $2,300 per senior.

The sojourn wasn't all academics, however. The second week of the journey saw the group make short work of Europe, visiting Prague in the Czech Republic, Innsbruck, Austria; Venice and Florence, Italy; Paris and London.

``It was great waking up in a different country everyday,'' Erb said.

``There was a culture shock of expense going from Bratislava to Paris,'' said Chesapeake resident Joe E. Kennedy, 18. ``All 11 of us had breakfast for only $5 in Bratislava. Paris was more than 10 times that.''

Brown said, however, that he was a ``little disheartened to see McDonald's in all the cities.''

Keating says he is looking forward to taking another group of seniors next year.

``It's a wonderful experience seeing the kids teaching the fruits of their education,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARK H. KEATING

The nine StoneBridge Christian seniors pause for picture in downtown

Bratislava, the capital city of the Slovak Republic.

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