High Schoolers Prepare for Trip to Japan

Hercules Middle High School students Grant Bennett, Tanya Krishnakumar, Cherise Cenon and Trevor Look have a lot of work to do before next fall.

The quartet will be traveling to Tsushima as part of the Hercules Sister City Association’s regular visit to Japan in an exchange of friendship and goodwill.

They have the considerable task of attempting to finance the entire cost of their trip, which is expected to be roughly $3,200 per student. Last Saturday’s Spring 2011 Hercules Citywide Garage Sales were their latest fundraising effort.

“We hope there will be more fundraising and support from the public because we don’t have enough funds yet to put the kids on the trip,” said Cenon’s mother Cielo. “Support from the community would be really nice.”

The group thinks that it earned approximately $2,000 during Saturday’s garage sales. The students gathered at the Hercules Public Library to sell maps (which contained the location of specific garage sales participants) to the surrounding community.

HSCA is planning more garage sales for September, since the trip—which was originally planned for late July—has been postponed until either October or November to coincide with the 30^th anniversary of the affiliation between Hercules and its sister city Tsushima, which will be on Nov. 5.

The trip will be a reunion of sorts, as Cenon, Krishnakumar, and Look hosted Tsushima students last summer. The cities alternate sending delegates, with Hercules students traveling to Japan in odd-numbered years. 

“I’m looking forward to going to their schools and seeing the girl who stayed at my place,” said Cenon, who reads Japanese. “They’ll be in school then, so we’ll be able to see their schools while they’re in session.”

Saturday’s garage sales were the third the students have completed since being selected in January, 2010, to go to Japan. They earned $4,100 from the two prior sales.

Other fundraising events have included a dinner at El Sol’s. The group earned $350 from the sales of See’s candy last fall, and is currently in the process of selling more candy from See’s.

“Some people are taking it to their office, or selling it individually to families,” Krishnakumar said. “If we want to go door-to-door with it, we can.”

One of the most demanding aspects of the students’ preparation, however, may be the study of Japanese culture. The group has been learning Japanese customs and phrases, and each student has been memorizing a speech in Japanese that will be presented several times during the visit.

“It’s been a challenge I think, but it’s been fun and a good learning experience,” Look said. “The speeches are two minutes, but in Japanese they probably take us five or six minutes.”

The students have also received $1,900 in donations from businesses, and procured roughly $300 from booths at the city’s 2010 Cultural Festival and its 4^th of July events. This year’s Cultural Festival and 4^th of July events have been canceled because of municipal budgetary concerns.