On Wednesday, seventh grade students in Eric Penn’s social studies class had their third meeting with their counterparts in Iron Mountain’s sister city of Sassoferrato, Italy. The students in Italy all speak English.

North Elementary Principal Andy Mendini had approached Penn at the beginning of the school year to take part in the program. A third grade class taught by Summer Spencer is also taking part.

From the animated voices of the small groups of seventh graders seated in the auditorium Wednesday, it appeared the students were enjoying the exchange.

“I realized that other countries have different traditions than us and I’m interested in learning about those different traditions,” Quinn Smiltneek said.

TWO CLASSES AT Iron Mountain Schools are taking part in an online cultural exchange with students in Iron Mountain’s sister city of Sassoferrato, Italy. Here, Ashton Vanden Avond, left, and Noah Kassin interact with Sassoferrato students at Wednesday's online session. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

For example, Italian children attend school until 2 p.m. but six days a week.

This was the second time the online session took place in the auditorium, Penn said.

“The first time we tried the classroom, but we realized we needed a lot more space,” he said.

The idea was spearheaded by Lisa Carubini, who has a cousin married to Daniela Berti-Conti, a seventh grade teacher in Sassoferrato. When they visited Iron Mountain last summer, they discussed having some sort of exchange between students.

Penn thinks the experience creates crucial international connections.

TWO CLASSES AT Iron Mountain Schools are taking part in an online cultural exchange with students in Iron Mountain’s sister city of Sassoferrato, Italy. Here, Lisa Carubini and Albert Santoni look at information about Sassoferrato; both have visited the Italian city several times and Carubini helped initiate the exchange through her cousin’s wife, who is a teacher there. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

“They can see what the rest of the world thinks about America and they can also represent us as a nation to the rest of the world at a very young age,” he said. “They understand the importance of friends in other countries and at the same time they can foster those friendships.”

Mendini agreed. “The kids have a chance to make a connection outside of their normal. Who would have even thought — as a third grader — they would have the chance to make a friend from a small town in Italy.”

During the first session, the seventh grade students talked about what their interests are, shared some culture — “some things about houses got shared,” Penn said. “The impressions we have of Italy and their impressions of America. We’re trying to see if we can make some corrections — ‘Oh, no, no, not everyone lives in a giant mansion over here’ — and so forth.”

For this meeting, Penn had some specific talking points to get conversations started, such as, “What do you like to explore?” He shared about Lake Antoine and that he likes to kayak.

Mendini said the third graders did their presentations about the school as a whole class with fourth and fifth grade classes in Italy. They also plan to exchange letters with students in Sassoferrato.

TWO CLASSES AT Iron Mountain Schools are taking part in an online cultural exchange with students in Iron Mountain’s sister city of Sassoferrato, Italy. Here, from left, seventh graders Addisyn Jahnke, Quinn Smiltneek and Jocelyn Taylor watch Wednesday’s session. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

Both grades plan so have at least two more sessions this year.

Many Italian families in the area have ties to Sassoferrato, which is about the same size as Iron Mountain. Both Carubini and Albert Santoni of Iron Mountain, who also attended Wednesday’s meeting, have visited Sassoferrato many times.

“I think it’s great,” Santoni said. “It’s opening the lines of communication, increasing understanding of our culture and their culture, things we have in common.”

Mendini would like to see this continue. “Hopefully this will turn into a connection, that if we keep doing this for a few years, these third graders will eventually have a chance to talk to the same kids when they get to seventh grade.”

He also hopes the teacher that forged the exchange with Carubini visits again this year.

“It would be great to be able to make a connection during the summer and bring her into the schools and see what more of a partnership or connection we can do. There’s so many directions we can go with this,” Mendini said.