Yokohama High School Visits GHS

     On Monday, March 24th, Gaithersburg High School (GHS) welcomed eighty Japanese students visiting from Yokohama High School. The students visited in order to get a taste of American schooling and had the opportunity to follow a Gaithersburg student for the day. Nilda Keres and Kim Curtis, both teachers at Gaithersburg High School, were in charge of the event and planning activities for the students. The planning began in October of last year when Dr. Christine Handy-Collins, principal of GHS, informed all the student service organizations about the Japanese visit. An assembly and a student-service activity were both planned out for the visit.

     The day began with an assembly held in the Performing Arts Center at the high school. The Yokohama High School students showcased their talents by performing traditional dances and martial arts. The GHS Poms, Unique Dance Team, and their K-Pop team also performed during the assembly in order to show some of the talents at GHS.

     After the assembly, students from each school were paired up with one another. The Japanese students were able to experience American public schooling first hand. Many of the GHS students were excited to show the Japanese students around, and also to learn more about their culture. Among them was senior Logan Clarke, who had recently been awarded the honor of being this year’s Mr. Gaithersburg. Clarke felt it was very important that people from all over the world “would feel welcome no matter where they went,” and was happy to be given the opportunity to put this principle into practice. “When I was told that the Japanese students were coming, I thought I would take the chance to make them feel welcome.”

     The language barrier did make it a bit difficult for the students to interact with one another, but they found ways around it and most didn’t feel as though it were a big deal. “It taught students how to interact in different ways,” said Keres.

     The students were actually very curious about the cultural differences between their countries, and the visit made it a great opportunity for them to learn about each other. “I’m glad I got to meet someone from a completely different country who has a completely different cultural style than I do and it just made the day interesting,” said Clarke.

     The students bonded well with their Japanese buddies and made sure to follow them on social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, in order to keep in touch.

     After school the Japanese and American students all met up to participate in the H2O Walk for Life. The walk was organized in order to bring awareness about the need of clean water all around the world. “We all believe and know that we all need clean drinking water, so I thought that [the walk] would be a great project for us to actually work on with the Japanese students,” said Curtis.

     The Gaithersburg Rotary Club and a representative from the office of Congressman Chris Van Hollen also came to participate in the event. Everyone at the walk was very enthusiastic and many students held up posters and signs to present the meaning of the project. The students walked along the lake in front of Bohrer Park, located right next to the school, with Principal Dr. Handy-Collins. “They walked with jugs of water positioned on their heads to symbolize what students in other countries actually have to do in order to bring clean drinking water to their school, or to their villages,” said Curtis.

     The students had a great time participating in all of the activities, and expressed their gratitude through Twitter and Facebook. “People actually tweeted me,” said Keres, “telling me how they appreciated me letting them do it and how it was a great experience for them. I thought that was wonderful.”