Battle Ground Academy News

Twenty-five years after the last official twinning with the French town of Arcachon (previously established with Aveiro in 1981, Béjar in 1984, and Figueira da Foz in 1999), Ciudad Rodrigo has taken the first steps towards a new twinning, this time with Franklin, a U.S. town in the state of Tennessee with around 90,000 residents, and the birthplace of the well-known singer Miley Cyrus.

The origin of the connection between the two towns lies with two teachers: Teresa Martín from Ciudad Rodrigo, who teaches at IES Fray Diego Tadeo, and Heather Angola from Battle Ground Academy in Franklin. The two have been in virtual contact for almost a decade, until May 2023 when they met in person for the first time. At that time, a group of 26 students aged 16 and 17 from the U.S. school visited Ciudad Rodrigo as part of a trip to Spain.

Both Teresa Martín and Heather Angola took part in the first virtual meeting held to work towards formalizing the twinning between Ciudad Rodrigo and Franklin. Joining them from Ciudad Rodrigo were Mayor Marcos Iglesias and the Head of Culture and Tourism, Belén Barco, while Franklin was represented by its mayor, Ken Moore. The meeting also included technical staff and members of Sister Cities International.

According to a press release from the City Council, Marcos Iglesias expressed to Ken Moore the willingness of the Ciudad Rodrigo council to establish a collaboration between the two cities, while the American mayor thanked Ciudad Rodrigo for its interest, stating his openness to "strengthen the ties between our two cities" leading to an eventual twinning.

As a next step, Marcos Iglesias will propose the twinning to the Municipal Corporation of Ciudad Rodrigo, emphasizing that "exchange students should play a key role, as they are the ones who can best drive this initiative," with the goal of finalizing it through an in-person visit to the Tennessee city.

This is a translation of the original article from Salamanca Al Día. You can read that article here.