Photo by Aila Boyd
By Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
James River High School hosted one teacher and two students from Hokkaido Chitose High School in Japan last week. The visit follows a trip that one teacher and two students from James River took to Japan.
Jim McLeese, the school librarian, has served as the coordinator for the program for the past two years. He traveled to Japan three times as a teacher as part of the program. “It has changed my life,” he said of the program.
The exchange program was started in 2000 by the Dynax Corporation. Due to 9-11, the program was interrupted for a year, but resumed in 2002 with both James River High School and Lord Botetourt High School participating. Although Dynax has decided to end its funding for the program, enough funds were left to cover this year and next year.
McLeese said that he’s hopeful that the school division will decide to continue funding the program. Hokkaido Chitose is committed to continuing to fund the program, he said, as long as James River is able to match the funding.
Each year, one teacher and two students from each school spend a week with their host families. At the end of each week, the participants get to go to Washington, D.C. and Tokyo, Japan.
“The program is great even for people who don’t get to go to Japan because they get to see people from a different culture, which hopefully makes them realize that we’re all pretty much the same. We’re all in this together,” he said. “It’s a good learning experience for all involved.”
An assembly was held on November 11 that allowed all of the participants to share their experiences from the exchange with the entire student body at James River.
This year, Summer Williamson and Forest Kay, who are both seniors at James River, were selected to be a part of the program.
“It was a superior way to experience a different culture since you’re living with someone your age and going to a high school in another country,” Williamson said.
“It seemed like a great opportunity. I’ve always wanted to travel in some form. This was the best opportunity I had and I don’t regret any of it,” Kay said of his experience in the program. “It was an amazing experience.”
Their Japanese counterparts were Rin Shishido and Yoshiki Matsamoto.
“The students are very kind,” Shishido said of the students at James River. She noted that the rules at her school are far stricter than they are at James River. After graduating high school, she plans on pursuing a career in event planning for Disney, which would involve dealing with many international travelers.
Matsamoto noted that uniforms are required at his school, but aren’t at James River. Additionally, the teachers rotate classrooms at his school, whereas the students are the ones who go from classroom to classroom at James River. “I was very surprised,” he said of the differences between the two schools. McLeese added that one of the differences between schools in the United States and Japan is that the latter doesn’t have school buses.
Matsamoto plans on becoming an athletic trainer, specifically with a Japanese professional baseball league that features an assortment of foreign players. He said he hopes his experience in the exchange program will help him professionally in the future.
Shishido and Matsamoto participated in a variety of classes while at James River, including art, Spanish, and history. McLeese said that the program is flexible and allows them to sit in on any classes that they have an interest in.
They were accompanied by Shin Tanaka, a physical education teacher at Hokkaido Chitose. This is the first year that he has participated in the program. He has been in education for the past 25 years. “The students are very friendly,” he said of James River.
