Indianapolis Region Economic Development Blog

You just never know who you're going to run into at a Pacers game -- even when you're halfway around the world.  So it was a lot of fun to stop by one of the suites at Wukesong Arena in Beijing last Sunday afternoon and pay a surprise visit on Carla Liebrich and Tina Merriwether, our oldest daughter's social studies teacher and principal, respectively, at Northview Middle School.  Along with two other teachers from Northview (Ms. Krieger and Ms. Williams), Ms. Liebrich and Ms. Merriwether are part of a group of central Indiana educators traveling with Global Indiana -- a nonprofit dedicated to helping educators make connections with other schools around the world.  When the Pacers learned that the group was going to be in Beijing on Game Day, the team lined up suite tickets for all of them.  Sweet, indeed!

The Indiana delegation is participating in some cultural exchange opportunities in Beijing and Shanghai, before traveling to Hangzshou to spend time at the Hangzhou Yongjin Middle School and several other schools.  As you may know, Hangzhou recently became a sister city with Indianapolis, and is located in Zhejiang Province, the sister state for Indiana (we visited Hangzhou last month on the Governor's trade mission).

Oh, yeah, they also played a basketball game that afternoon.  The crowd was certainly into it, especially at the very end when the players tossed autographed mini-balls into the stands.