Elk Grove students to welcomes visitors from Japan

Elk Grove High School is looking forward to the visit of seven exchange students and two faculty members from its sister schools in Japan, Ashikodai High School and Ashitandai High School.

The guests will stay with local families March 4-19 as part of the schools' 22nd annual exchange. In June, EGHS staff members Scott Deutsch and Allisha Komala and the eight EGHS host students will travel to Ashikaga, Japan, for the second half of the program.

The high school will provide the guests with a wide variety of American and Chicago-area experiences. Of greatest importance are the opportunities to interact with their host families and with EGHS students at school, including those studying Japanese as a foreign language here. Several EGHS

teachers will invite the students to visit their classes. There are also other activities at school, including a student council welcome assembly, which will include performances by student groups.

Activities outside school include excursions to Chicago for ice skating at Millennium Park, a trip up to the sky deck at Willis Tower, visits to the Museum of Science and Industry and the Art Institute, and a musical or Bulls basketball game.

The guests also will join students from program coordinator Cliff Darnall's Japanese classes for a field trip to the Todai Japanese Seafood Buffet in Schaumburg.

Eleven school-related families are involved in hosting. Head chaperon Masa Saito is staying with staff member Ralph Scalise, while chaperon "Ted" Yokozuka is being hosted by Komala and Deutsch.

The Japanese students and their student hosts are Nilton Akiyoshi, hosted by junior Trevor Ingstrup; Yuki Hosoda, by junior Jeff Ostrowski; Takuya Miyazaki, by senior Matt Weininger; Minori Nakamura, by junior Izzy Sharrer, Ai Sekiguchi, by junior Erika Bauer; Misako Sukegawa, by junior

Amy Klingbiel, and Mo-e Yokozuka, by sophomores Christine Cephas and Christi Erbacci.

The many cultural activities Elk Grove High School provides its guests are made possible largely through donations over the years, mostly from local Japanese companies and individuals, and through the continued generous support of the EGHS Teacher-Parent Council and the EGHS Student Council. Additional donations are always welcome.

Over the years the program has given hundreds of students on both sides of the Pacific the chance to experience life in another culture and develop close

international friendships.