New Global Communication and Collaboration Lab

Enloe’s Global Communication and Collaboration Lab opened on February 1st, with an aim to bring people together all across the world. Its goal is to promote cultural awareness and international cooperation and is an excellent resource for language students to improve their skills. Also, it will hopefully help to combat ethnocentrism and stereotyping. Enloe students are already communicating with Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and German students.

Mr. Eno was inspired to create a space where students could build international connections with students from around the world after he visited Russia with professors and graduate students from Appalachian State University. Prior to the experience, he didn’t have the most positive opinion of the country. “I left with a different feeling, I saw love and peace,” he explained. Mr. Eno wanted to give this kind of experience to students in the United States, so they could also overcome stereotyping and make connections with people from different cultures.

Several people participated in completing the Collab Lab. The world language department helped to develop the goals for the lab, and Dr. Chavis supported the funding. Mr. Byrd, Ms. Klenow, and their students helped to prepare the room. Ms. Uzzell and Ms. Fawcett conducted the first sessions utilizing the space. The entire project took about 20 months.

Similar labs were started in two other schools thanks to Mr. Eno, but “Enloe High School is the perfect setting for such a thing.” Students seek out opportunities that grant these connections, and now they will be much more readily available. Making use of the resources in the Collab Lab is also a great way to modernize the school and education itself.

Mr. Eno hopes “that it becomes a common way to connect people and experiences to and from anywhere.” Students can become globally competitive and receive unique experiences, all while being inside the walls of Enloe. Mr. Eno and the whole team involved aim to expand the lab to provide an even wider variety of opportunities.