By Ed Flanagan
NBC News

BEIJING – Students from Crenshaw High School will be coming to China on Thursday as ambassadors for Los Angeles. The students will work with their academic peers from Beijing’s Renmin University to teach them about African-American culture, while also learning first-hand about the global economy. Also traveling in the group is one of the world’s most celebrated gospel choirs, the Crenshaw High School Choir.

The trip was organized by the Los Angeles Urban League through its Neighborhoods@Work initiative. The program helps foster student leadership at Crenshaw High School and was the pool from which students were selected for the “Crenshaw2China” cultural exchange program.

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Perhaps more intriguing was how the Crenshaw High choir secured its berth to China. After the choir made an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show on June 10, host Mika Brzezinski began poking around seeking someone to sponsor the choir on the trip.

Hal Rosenbluth, a former executive at Walgreens, quickly stepped up to sponsor the trip and with that the mad dash to secure visas, flights and accommodations for the dozens of students in the choir began in earnest.

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