Every other year, John H. Pitman High School and Kyoto Gakuen, a school in Japan, send over students to both schools and give them each a taste of living in Japan and America. Last year, students from Turlock and Pitman High went to Japan for two weeks. This year, about forty students from Japan are coming to Pitman high and are each assigned a host family to live with for about five days.

These Japanese students get a first hand experience on what it is like to live in America. The students spend the day with their host family at school, interacting with many other Pitman students and learning what kind of everyday life they live. This type of foreign country interaction between students is a great way to open people’s perspectives and bring together different cultures and languages.

The host of the student exchange program Mr. Searway stated that “ one of the impacts is it opens you up to other cultures and other experiences. People tend to focus on themselves but the world is so much bigger than only Turlock so when you come in contact with people out of the globe you find out a lot of other people.“

Typically, the Japanese students arrive with a surprise. During lunch, the students arrive with a dance in order to greet the Pitman students and walk from class to class with their host families.The Japanese students learn what an American high schoolers life consists of. However, during the weekend, the students enjoy a long lasting weekend with their host families, spending their time experiencing a life in the US.

Hosting foreign students is an excellent opportunity for students to open their perspective and gain a new experience in exchange for volunteering their home. Many students volunteered to host Japanese students and are very thrilled, awaiting their arrival.  I had the opportunity to look into the perspective of these students.

Alexia Perez, a senior at Pitman hosting Japanese students said, “I’m really excited. I really love learning about different cultures so I am excited to see what kind of people they are. It’s  nice comparing the our culture with theirs and trading each others experiences.“

Evidently, our Pitman High students are very excited to experience they will share with their host students coming this Wednesday. This multicultural experience will be very precious to both Pitman students and the Japanese students as well. We are awaiting their arrival and hope for a great commodity with them!