{Wayland – A local resident says he is preparing to move to Rwanda where he hopes to attract high school students from around the world to an independent school in the African country.}

Carl Hobert, a Boston University professor who lives in Wayland, strives to raise students’ global awareness. He said he tries to teach them about conflict resolution through case studies that emphasize the importance of understanding different perspectives.

Ultimately, students are “learning how to get along,” said Hobert, who has been tapped to be assistant headmaster as well as director of the upper school at Rwanda’s Green Hills Academy.

Hobert brings Rwandan experience, including taking youngsters to visit a Rwandan orphanage and bringing his conflict resolution expertise to the country. He also had a 15-year tenure at Belmont Hill School.

He said he’s thrilled for the new opportunity in Rwanda. The country has improved since the genocide of 22 years ago when over one million innocent Tutsi were killed in a 100-day period.

The school currently includes Rwandan children and children whose families have moved there to take part in new investment in infrastructure and buildings, Hobert said.

Hobert said he is excited to be moving to Rwanda next month but will miss friends and family and Wayland’s many outdoor areas.

His work at Green Hills Academy will include creating a high school boarding program for students from around the world, teaching international conflict resolution and overseeing the creation of a service learning program, according to a press release.

School leaders’ vision for Green Hills Academy is strong, Hobert said.

“I’ve got them in their formative (years) of life,” he said of students. “It is so brilliant.”

Hobert said students will come to a country that was once torn apart by genocide.

They’ll see peace and stability and learn “that it can be done. You’re going to teach kids to bring that back to their own countries,” he said.

The international students who come to Green Hills Academy will have a unique experience they couldn’t learn from a textbook.

“When you get kids there, it’s all five senses that you’re tickling,” he said.