Exchange students from Uguisudani High School in Gifu, Japan visited WCHS last Friday to tour the school. The Japanese exchange students were paired up with leadership students from ASB, Renaissance or Link Crew. The tour lasted from first period to the end of lunch and allowed the Japanese students to bond with their partner and explore the campus. They toured the different classes and extracurricular programs on campus, including Bulldog News Network, Robotics, E-sports and Culinary Arts.

This event has been an annual tradition in the school for three years.

The experience was planned to exchange the cultures of the schools; to let students coming from Japan to experience the differences in the food and the social life of the United States compared to Japan by visiting our campus.

“Our school was really big compared to schools in Japan and they don’t have as much facilities like esports and the weight room as we have here,” senior and ASB member Adam Fahs said.

Starting their tour, the pairs first met in the Media Center at 8:45 a.m., where they introduced themselves to each other and everyone.

Next, the Japanese students followed the Bulldogs to their second period class, where they met the teachers and students, which afterwards, the Japanese students followed their partner to nutrition.

After getting snacks and touring campus with their partner, the Japanese students visited the different programs on campus. One class that the Japanese students visited was the BNN studio. There, they explored the room and saw the broadcasts the BNN students created. Additionally, they toured the broadcast studio and sat in front of the camera to take pictures with their partner.

After touring campus programs, the students entered the gym and the students played basketball together until the Japanese students gathered into groups and gave a presentation to our Bulldogs about Japanese convenience stores and their lifestyle and culture. 

Finally, the Bulldogs took the Japanese students for lunch, where the Bulldogs surprised their partners with a unique gift. To end the day, the ASB store gave ice cream to the leadership students and the Japanese students. They spent their last moments together, expressing their farewells and ending off the day.

One of the pairs, Fahs and Japanese exchange student Kantaro Kotake bonded through each other’s humor.

“My partner was really funny and I want to tell him that I had a great time with him,” Fahs said.

Kotake enjoyed various aspects of the campus. Particularly, the interactive activities.

“Taking pictures with Adam playing basketball,” Kotake said.

Though the school was not able to host Japanese exchange students the previous year, this year ASB director Christine Vo reached an agreement with a travel company to host the event.

At last, the tour ended with new friendships and exchange in culture, ending in success.

“I think are always grateful that they can have a connection with you. And then what I’ve noticed is that they continue to email back and forth, I think, like sort of a global friend,” Principal Charles Park said.