Middle School Teacher Snags Expelled Al Jazeera Correspondent

On May 14, LA Times reporter Rosanna Xia profiled Melissa Chan, the first accredited foreign correspondent to be expelled from China in more than a decade. On May 23, as a result of that article, Chan spoke to Grade 6 students at Suzanne Middle School in Walnut, CA.

It just goes to show what can happen when a newspaper article connects with an enterprising teacher. From a report on Walnut Patch:

Social Studies teacher Steve Cusson contacted Chan and asked her to share her story with his classes after reading the May 14 article… “The students were amazed that they got to meet her,” Cusson said.

Chan was impressed by the intelligent questions they asked because they knew the background to many of the stories she covered, he said.

In the Patch comments, Cusson gets a shout out from fellow Suzanne Social Studies teacher Alan Haskvitz. Way to go, teach. Chan meanwhile is set to attend Stanford this fall on a Knight Fellowship.