Edmonds Students Enjoy Visit to Hekinan

By Tim Cashman and Meredith McGahan

Meredith and I want to begin this report by thanking the Commissioners and Brian for helping make the 20th Anniversary trip a memorable one on both sides of the Pacific.

This trip was a huge success on many levels. Our students fulfilled their opportunity to be true Ambassadors in Hekinan in some of the following ways:

Andrew Stein was often seen holding his young host brother high in the air giving us all many memorable pictures of friendship in our heads and cameras.

Natalie Smith and Sylvie Shiosaki took every opportunity that they had informally and formally to use and improve their Japanese language skills to the delight of our hosts and us.

Graham Arnold, Will McCoy, Ben Norman and Tristan Riddell set up and conducted a very well received Halloween booth Ball Toss Game for the enjoyment of both young and old.

Lisa Field, Colleen and Elise Butters wowed everyone with their magnificent ballroom dance steps and teaching techniques at the Farewell Party.

Jason Greene was so dedicated to his turkey making project at the Thanksgiving Booth that he never even took a dinner break and others got him food while he kept on working the whole party..

Joseph Virnig and Jenelle Valera were the first ones to volunteer to take Judo lessons at Hekinan High School and amazed the local students with their ability to adapt so quickly.

Carolyn Hamilton and Brianna Bishop did a great job on introducing our guest on how to make and wear party favors fashionably at the New Year’s Eve booth.

What made us the most proud of these students was their ability to come together as a group while traveling in Japan and how they pulled off a Farewell Party that was so well received that many of our guest did not want to leave. With only five hours to go before the party, we had to forget about the forgotten food items and props and ask the students what kind of party they wanted to throw. We used a rating scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best party possible. They all voted on having a “10” and then we listed all the things that they would need to do or not do in order to achieve that goal. The students proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon showing that they could say “thank you” to their Japanese host families with their actions speaking even louder than their words. The rest is history and it is one we all can be proud of.