As hundreds from Upstate New York travel to Rome to celebrate a local saint, students in Syracuse are joining in on the historic occasion. Tamara Lindstrom tells us how some lucky kids are learning about the canonization of Marianne Cope and Kateri Tekakwitha.

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It's a lesson taught from the streets of Rome while students watch from classrooms on the other side of the ocean.

"We learned about what Marianne Cope did to become a saint. And we learned about how one of the first miracles took place right in Syracuse with a girl from London. So that was interesting," said senior Kelly Keenan.

On Friday, students at Bishop Grimes High School got a live lesson and asked questions using Skype while their superintendent answered from St. Peter's Square.

"This is part of a larger project through social media, Facebook, Twitter, blogging. We've done some YouTube videos. All of which we've sent back to the schools to our teachers to use as lessons," said Christopher Mominey, Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Syracuse Diocese.

Mominey taught about the life of Marianne Cope as he travels through Italy to celebrate her canonization.

"It was kind of surreal because my whole life, I've always wanted to see the Vatican," said senior Anthony Ruscitto. "I've been Catholic my whole life, so it's always been my dream to see the Vatican. And to see somebody that I've actually met in person get to be there, it's one step closer. Hopefully, eventually I'll get to go myself."

While the students had a great time talking to their superintendent from halfway around the world, to the teachers, the technology brings a new way to get kids excited about learning.

"I think it's opened up a new culture," said Deborah Foster, who teaches broadcasting and computer programming. "And since it is real time they could actually be in St. Peter's Square with the superintendent. So I think it was very exciting for them,"

Bridging time and distance to bring the story closer to home.