• h .a, ,. - October I 0, 2012 VouR COhl/HUNITV Page 7
m Josai
From page 1
The three Josai faculty mem-
bers spent Wednesday in Salem
and Stayton, visiting their students
who are going to school there.
On Thursday the three were
hosted at a reception that includ-
ed School Board President Jason
Redick and members Jan Sharp
and Mike Reynolds, Supt. Don
Schrader, new Josai Coordinator
Deborah Handman, Mayor Craig
Fentiman, and various teachers,
students and community mem-
bers.
Principal Keith Winslow wel-
comed the visitors, noting that
"1,300 kids have benefited from
this program over the years."
He said that he had received a
letter from Josai officials and had
responded with one of his own
agreeing that the program must
continue.
Kato, with Robinson acting as
translator, expressed Josai's "ap-
preciation" for its 30-year relation-
ship with Sweet Home.
"From now on we're work-
ing to build a stronger relationship
between the two schools," he said,
adding that Josai plans to bring 10
to 20 students next summer for its
bi-annual two-week visit to Sweet
Home and hopes to send two stu-
dents next fall to attend Sweet
Home High School. "We really
look forward to working togeth-
el'."
Kato said he appreciated how
"'so many people on both sides put
aside their busy schedules to try to
make this thing work."
Winslow said he appreciated
the congenial spirit of the visit.
"We've had a lot of laughs,"
he said. "I've enjoyed it."
Several at the event told of
their own or their children's expe-
riences on Josai tours.
Nancy Ellis, a teacher whose
son Joey traveled to Japan in
2004, told of how her son, now
24, brought his backpack home
on a recent visit and she found an
album of photos of that trip in the
pack.
"It was very important to
him," she said.
Former Josai coordinator
Steve Hummer recalled that Ellis'
trip was also Hummer's first.
"I had no idea what I was
getting into at first," he said. "I
had the time of my life. I ate raw
horsemeat. I karaoke'd in front of
the PTA at Tokyo Bay."
Allen Buzzard, who with
Dawn Barringer Waldrop were
the first Josai exchange students
in 1972, said the Sweet Home stu-
dents' year in Tokyo was "as much
an experience for them as for us. "
The program was the brain-
child of Harold Merzenich Smith,
who taught English at Josai in
the early 1970s. The long-term
program was actually founded by
George Wenzel, and Martina Mer-
zenich, Harold's mother who, he
said, traveled to Tokyo at her own
expense as the first envoy from
Sweet. Home and Spoke before
the entire student body at Josai's
lkebukuro campus, inaugurating
the relationship between the two
Photo by Scott Swanson
Sweet Home High School Principal Keith Winslow, right, speaks as, from left, Cyndi Burford and Josai faculty mem-
bers Hiroko Yoshida, Vice Principal Terataka Kato and Roger Robinson listen during a reception at the high school.
schools.
Robinson said Sweet Home
represents an extreme cultural
change for Josai students, who live
in metropolitan Tokyo.
"It's so different from the
sprawl of Tokyo," he said. "Here,
the students get to let their hair
down. There's openness."
There's also a hospitable spir-
it, he said.
"I think the main thing is the
people, the people who take them
in."
Former Josai coordinator Cyn-
di Burford, who worked to keep
the program alive after the red-
tape problems arose, said she felt
the visit was fruitful in ensuring
the continuation of the exchange.
"I felt that they accomplished
everything they wanted to," she
said. "They came over with a list
and they accomplished everything
on that list. They kept saying they
felt really happy about being able
to meet us face to face. They thor-
oughly enjoyed meeting the staff
and community that was at the
reception. It was a very positive
feeling."
Burford said program orga-
hizers are awaiting word from
the U.S. Immigration and Cus-
toms Enforcement's Student and
Exchange Visitor Program, bet-
ter known as SEVIS, that the pa-
perwork is complete and the high
school's certification is approved.
"We are still hoping to have it
by December, so Josai can start the
advertising process for their par-
ents," Burford said.
She said that talks with the Jo-
sai administrators have led to dis-
cussion of expanding the program
to include visits of two months or
half a year in addition to the two-
week summer tours and the year-
long program. She said such an
addition would be particularly at-
tractive tO students in sports, who
don't want to miss a whole year of
competition.
"Josai wants to expand and
offer more," she said. "It's kind of
their little niche. Parents are send-
ing their students there because of
these exchange opportunities."
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