By Kari Lucin, staff writer

Lakeview Elementary School Principal Jean Jordan has become one of 170 people across the nation to win the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship this year.

In March she will head to Finland for six weeks, and in September she will host another Fulbright Scholar, a Finnish principal.

&8220;Fulbright’s very interested in the educational exchange, but also in the cultural exchange, that you get to know each other’s cultures and understand and appreciate them,&8221; Jordan said.

When she went through the application process, Jordan had to write several essays about her educational history and her viewpoints on cultural differences. Then she was selected for an interview with a previous year’s Fulbright Scholar and recommended to a Minnesotan group that recommended her to the final Fulbright Program Committee.

The final committee matched her to middle school principal Kari Salminen of Turku, Finland, because the two had similar educational interests, though administrating schools for two different age groups.

&8220;We’ve e-mailed, we’ve called each other,&8221; Jordan said. &8220;He’s going to spend the first week solidly here at Lakeview, getting to know me, getting to know the building.&8221;

Salminen will spend some time in the classroom and has been studying the school’s involvement in Q-Comp, the state’s new teacher merit pay system. He will attend meetings and conferences with Jordan, visiting schools in Chicago and the Twin Cities. Salminen might also find time to help the soccer team out.

&8220;He’s very interested in technology,&8221; Jordan said of her Finnish colleague. &8220;Finland is incredibly technologically literate.&8221;

Jordan plans to have Lakeview students learn a little bit about Finland before Salminen arrives.

Salminen himself will have little difficulty passing the language barrier, as he is already fluent in English as well as three other languages &045; as are many Finns. When Jordan expressed concern that she wouldn’t understand administrative meetings in Finland, Salminen told her that they would simply hold them all in English.

&8220;It would be a rarity in this country,&8221; Jordan said. &8220;I’m not sure you could find a regular public school in this country where there would be enough staff that you could do a bilingual meeting of any kind.&8221;

Finnish is known to most linguists as an extraordinarily difficult language to learn, but Jordan will put in some effort to learn at least a few Finnish phrases before she crosses the Atlantic in March.

One of the major differences between Finnish and American schools is the comparative lack of cultural diversity in Finnish schools. Finland also has socialized medicine and socialized early childhood education.

They even have a national curriculum, which would be a volatile concept in the United States, said Jordan.

Finnish kids complete high school at age 16, and from there pursue either technical school or university classes, though they can change their minds and career tracks later on. Jordan will get a first-hand look at the Finnish education system when Salminen takes his turn as guide in March.

Fulbright will pay for Jordan’s flight to Finland and give her a $3,000 stipend to help her pay for her expenses when she’s there.

Some of the cultural differences she found in her research may be difficult for Jordan to adjust to.

&8220;The Finnish people learn from a very young age to appreciate silence. They’re not chatters. If you have something to say it should be well thought out, and they’re kind of seen by others as being brutally honest &045; but they don’t see that as socially unacceptable,&8221; Jordan said.

She’s interested to see how the quiet, understated Finns react to her.

&8220;I’m not exactly an understated person. And my family is very expressive,&8221; Jordan said. &8220;I’ll have to learn to be more discreet with my chattiness.&8221;

But Salminen and his staff are as excited about his visit to America as Jordan is about her visit to Finland. The cultural differences may fall aside as scholarship and professional interest take precedence. And the cultural similarities are certainly there too.

&8220;The landscape is very similar. You can see why Finnish people settled in Minnesota,&8221; Jordan said.