The Greeneville City School System's "Greeneville Global Initiative" took another important step forward Thursday and Friday with a visit from Jim Duncan, a principal from the Central American country of Belize.

Duncan, who hosted Greeneville Director of Schools Dr. Lyle Ailshie in Belize in January, spent the two days visiting all six city schools and the Greeneville-Greene County Center for Technology.

During his first-ever visit to East Tennessee, Duncan launched his Adopt-A-Tree program, asking Greeneville students to help raise funds for rebuilding the rainforest in Belize and for purchasing computer equipment to enhance the Greeneville Global Initiative.

The computer equipment would allow classrooms in Greeneville and Belize to interact by using webcams and the Internet.

Ailshie's global initiative was launched in 2008 to increase awareness of other countries, to enhance learning in all subject areas, and to help students be more competitive in a global society.

In October 2008, Duncan sent an e-mail to The Greeneville Sun, saying he had read an article about the Greeneville Global Initiative on the newspaper's Web site, www.GreenevilleSun.com.

He also asked the newspaper to put him in contact with Ailshie.

After communicating with Duncan by e-mail, Ailshie and Larry Jones, the school system's network administrator, took a five-day trip to Belize in January.

During their visit, the Greeneville Global Initiative was given approval by top education officials in Belize.

Ailshie and Jones stayed with Duncan and his wife, Jenny, who operate the TreeHouse Christian Academy. The school has 28 students and three teachers.

In addition to TreeHouse Christian Academy, Ailshie and Jones visited five other nearby schools that Duncan had contacted.

Since then, schools in Belize have been paired with schools in Greeneville.

For example, Hal Henard Elementary School has been paired with Guadulupe Roman Catholic School, which has about 100 students in Sandhill Village, Belize.

At Hal Henard School on Thursday, Duncan told students about the Adopt-A-Tree project, offering them various incentives to participate in the fundraiser.

Adopt-A-Tree is sponsored by the TreeHouse Club, part of a non-profit organization the Duncans founded 20 years ago when they lived in Florida, Duncan said.

Adopt-A-Tree is a cross-culture educational project designed to help students participate in an effort to stop global warming by replenishing the rainforest.

Duncan portrayed "Chief Ranger Jim," a rainforest ranger who showed students a map of Belize and told them about trees and animals that are unique to the rain forest.

The trees include mahogany, and the animals include a gibnut, a member of the rodent family.

Ranger Jim showed students "Gibby the gibnut," a cartoon mascot whose message is, "Plant a tree, reap a rainforest!"

For $15, the students' friends and family members can adopt a tree that will be assigned an identification number.

Corporate donors can sponsor 100 trees on one acre that will be marked with a sign, he added.

The goal, Duncan said, is to plant 10,000 trees on 100 acres.

For each tree a student sells, they will receive a notebook with a cover photo from Belize.

The top seller from each school will receive a hand-carved mahogany machete, a personalized "Rainforest Ranger" trophy and a four-day trip to Boston Village, Belize.

Duncan was traveling with Dr. Joann Freeburg, of Landrum, S.C., and David Wilkerson, of Searcy, Ark., who were assisting him with the project.

When developing the Greeneville Global Initiative, several factors led Ailshie in the direction of Belize, including the connection with Belize that Jones has through his church.

Mission teams from Concord Baptist Church in Mohawk, of which Jones is a member, have traveled to Belize several times to build churches and provide other assistance.

As a result, Jones is familiar with the area and was able to help Ailshie calculate traveling distances and locate schools on a map before their trip.

While most residents of Belize speak Spanish or Creole, the official language is English, which Ailshie said would be another advantage for students from Greeneville.

Participating students and teachers likely will study the country's languages, culture, government, beliefs, policies, human rights, trade efforts, and environment, Ailshie has said.

These lessons could fit into several classes, including language arts, science, mathematics, social studies, and visual and performing arts.

One lesson that Duncan emphasized Thursday is the Mayan culture in Belize. He told students that interactive communications between the schools could allow students in Belize to show Mayan artifacts to students in Greeneville.

Ultimately, Ailshie said, the program could result in an exchange in which local students and teachers travel to Belize, while students and teachers from Belize come to Greeneville.

Ailshie said he hopes to have more information about the Adopt-A-Tree program on the school system's Web site, www.gcschools.net.