Japanese Exchange Students Visit West Orange Through Rotary Program

WEST ORANGE, NJ — A group of high school students from Japan recently got a chance to visit West Orange and experience a taste of life in New Jersey with some help from the West Orange Rotary Club.

The club held a special luncheon event for 15 Japanese students and three chaperones earlier this month. The students were in the U.S. on a three-week trip, and were staying with local host families, all representing Rotary Clubs in Japan.

The students spent the morning touring the Thomas Edison National Historical Park before joining the Rotarians for lunch at the Essex County Turtle Back Zoo. Mayor Susan McCartney was among those on hand to give the visiting students a warm welcome.

The eager youth exchanged flags they brought from their sponsoring clubs in Japan, receiving West Orange Rotary Club flags to bring back home – a longstanding tradition.

According to West Orange Public Information Officer Joseph Fagan:

“The stated mission of Rotary International, in part, is to advance understanding, goodwill, and peace throughout the world. I participated in a Rotary International Group Study Exchange program in 1993 and lived in Argentina. I know firsthand their excitement and how their sense of youthful adventure will impact their lives as they each learn, and teach, about other cultures for years to come … The West Orange Rotary Club was organized as a spinoff form the Orange Rotary Club on April 28, 1928. Today West Orange is part of Rotary District 7475, consisting of 75 Rotary Service Clubs that covers nine New Jersey counties.”

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