Cranford Review 2018

On
US Ambassador Visits Cranford
17th May 2018 Cranford Community College welcomed the US
Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson. This was the Ambassador’s
first visit and talk to a UK school since presenting his credentials to the Queen
last year. The US Embassy chose Cranford to host the first visit because of
the strength of our relationship with the US Embassy and the American people
and they knew that Cranford would ensure a high quality visit.
The Ambassador’s views and ideas prompted a lively discussion in the room.
It is important for students to experience views different from theirs and also
have the opportunity to challenge those views in a constructive manner.
The Ambassador gave a talk to fifty year 10 and year 12 students on his life
journey with the emphasis on his role as owner of the New York Jets American
Football team. He used the record-breaking Superbowl comeback of the New
England Patriots as an inspiring story of overcoming adversity. He then
went on to discuss how you should not be put off by bad things and used the
analogy of bumps in the road. His advice to the students was that you should
not focus on the bumps in the road but on the destination. He thought that
while American and British people have much in common a difference was
that British people tend to focus on the bumps in the road whereas Americans
focus on the destination.
Following the talk, the Ambassador then took questions from the students.
Topics discussed included the environment and locating the US Embassy in
Jerusalem. For the last question one of our students stood up shook his hand
and told the Ambassador how much he admired the work he had done both as
a businessman and for the charities he supports. He then asked the Ambassador
whether he would mentor him. To the delight of the audience the Ambassador
said yes.
The Ambassador then spent the next 15 minutes engaged in informal discussion
on a one-to-one basis with our students. He was clearly enjoying himself as
the Embassy staff had to remind him three times that it was time to go.
For the last part of the visit the Ambassador went to the Cranford SuperDome.
He was amazed that a school would have such a fantastic facility and thought
our students and wider community were very lucky to have access to such a
great facility.
All round a very successful visit perhaps best summed up by one of our
students, “Regardless of whether or not we had polar views on certain topics,
it was still very interesting to hear what Mr Johnson had to say”.
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Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher – Director of Community Development)