The construction of a new school building is always cause for celebration as it signifies hope for the future, the continuance in the passing of knowledge to another generation and a reaffirmation of all that's noble in humanity.

This week, as representatives from the St. Paul, Minn.-based nonprofit organization Global Volunteers travel to China to mark the completion of Project Peace School in the farming village of An Shang, they are bringing to a close an arduous five-year "journey of the heart" that has encompassed thousands of miles and thousands of dollars in contributions and sweat equity from many selfless volunteers on both sides of the Pacific.

Bud Philbrook and Michele Gran, husband and wife and cofounders of Global Volunteers, their three sons, and some 30 volunteers from all over the country will be special guests Thursday, Sept. 1, at the dedication of Project Peace School, an elementary school for 400 students built in An Shang, a farming community located approximately two hours (by car) northwest of the central city of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province.

The school was built through the joint efforts of Global Volunteers and the Sino-American Society of Xi'an and it represents the continuation of a "people-to-people" partnership that, to date, has placed over 1,000 volunteers in the classrooms of Xi'an, An Shang and Kunming, China. These volunteers have served for two or three weeks at a time, teaching conversational English and forging bridges of friendship between the East and West. In fact, Global Volunteers was the first organization of its type to place American volunteers in Chinese classrooms.

"We are celebrating how ordinary individuals can achieve extraordinary things when they reach out across cultural and political barriers and work together as part of the human family," says Philbrook, president of Global Volunteers.

In addition to Global Volunteers and Sino-American Society officials, thousands of Chinese from An Shang village and neighboring villages are expected to show up at the Thursday dedication to welcome their guests and say "thank you" for their new school. And, in typical Chinese fashion, they will do so with parades, drums, flutes, fireworks, banners and dancing girls.

The idea for the new school sprang from tragedy. In 1999, An Lin, a Global Volunteers consultant in Xi'an, was killed in an auto accident while studying in the United States. She was the daughter of An Wei, president of the Sino-American Society. Because she had worked tirelessly for inter-cultural understanding, her family and colleagues decided that a new rural school, built by U.S. and Chinese citizens, would stand as a fitting tribute to her legacy. (An Lin is buried in a Roseville, Minn., cemetery.)

Construction began in 2002 with U.S. volunteers working shoulder-to-shoulder with Chinese workers and An Shang residents on the initial construction stages-preparing the ground, digging trenches, mixing cement. Later stages were completed almost entirely by Chinese construction crews, funded through volunteer contributions.

Now the project is coming full circle, as Global Volunteers has begun sending teams of volunteers to teach English in the new school, which is graced by U.S. and Chinese flags flying side by side together.