2020 was Clarkston High School and Chiba Higashi’s 20-year anniversary. I was planning a celebration for our sister school, which I had been planning since September of 2019. Then covid hit and Japan closed their schools in February, in March American schools closed. My hopes of celebrating our unique exchange were gone.

Through the years of the world being shut down, I stayed in contact with the teacher in charge of the 国際交流 at Chiba Higashi and we agreed we need to continue this exchange, no matter how long the pandemic lasts. That gave me hope that we will see them, that we can continue this amazing exchange and share our cultures and lives between the two schools.

This year we were finally able to reunite in person. 16 students and two teachers came to Michigan. Students presented about Japanese culture/life in English to my classes. Everyday we ate in the school cafeteria, where they were welcomed by many students. Each evening we had a different event for families to get together and meet other students, and socialize. We had a potluck, played laser tag, a wonderfully successful celebration, an unexpected snow day where they got to build a snowman and make snow angels, go bowling, and see how American students spend a snow day at home.

Middle of the week, we had our celebration in the high school cafeteria. The day of the celebration everyone worked together to get the cafeteria set up. I had lots of food donated from various restaurants in the area. We had a variety of tables, each with their own Japanese culture theme, such as: origami, traditional Japanese tea, fukuwarai, chopstick contest, calligraphy and yukata wearing, provided by the JSD Women’s Club.

I met students from many buildings in the district, parents from the community and many of my own students came and enjoyed many events at the tables. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of community members who came to enjoy the celebration. It was a success and I know we were able to commemorate our sister school exchange in a way that impacted everyone who came to the event.

I want to personally thank the JBSD for their generous donation for the event. Many supplies were purchased through the grant that was used in the event. This would not have been as successful without the generosity of the JBSD.

Planning a celebration, as well as bringing 18 people from our sister school in Japan is a lot of work. I see how impactful it is on my students and Chiba Higashi students. The connections they make, the relationships that are created through this exchange shows that this is worth all the hours put into the preparation. Keeping that bridge between Japan and America strong has been my mission as a Japanese teacher. I hope to continue this amazing exchange and make our friendship with Chiba Higashi stronger. This summer I will be taking 17 students to Japan. This is our first time going back since 2019. We look forward to traveling for a week, then going to Chiba Higashi and doing presentations on American life/school life.

Fay Valtadoros
Clarkston Community Schools 日本語教師