Sister Cities Program to Enter Float

Beach Middle School and Chelsea High School students who have participated in the Chelsea-Shimizu (Japan) Sister Cities Exchange Program have been busy this week building a float for the fair parade. Although the exchange program for seventh and eighth graders has been going on since 1994, this is the first time students and parents have gotten together to publicize the program by being an official part of the annual festivities. "Bridging Two Cultures" is the theme for the float, which is being built with the generous support of Chelsea Lumber. All current and former participants in the Japanese exchange are invited to walk with the float in the parade.

The Sister Cities Program is taken very seriously in Japan, according to Karen Misenheimer, one of the parent chaperones of this past summer's student group. Living in a country whose geographical isolation and unique culture tend to limit contacts with other industrialized nations, young Japanese have little knowledge of America beyond hip-hop music and TV serials. American young people know even less about the Japanese. The Sister Cities Program attempts to remedy that for two small but quite similar towns a half world apart.

Chelsea's involvement with Sister Cities began when Brian Oakley (CHS Class of 1986) proposed the idea to then Superintendent of Schools, Joe Piasecki. Having taught English at the middle school in Shimizu, he was struck by the similarity between the towns and the surrounding agricultural lands. In 1993, he visited Chelsea with two officials of the Shimizu School Board. The following October the first students arrived. Since that time, a small group of teenagers from Japan have visited Chelsea every October, staying with host families and being exposed to the American way of life, from breakfast cereals to backyard cookouts, and from the Henry Ford Museum to hanging out at Briarwood Mall.

This past June, for the fifth consecutive year, middle schoolers from Beach and four adult chaperones flew to Japan. They toured the historic temples, shrines and fortresses of ancient Kyoto, and then flew to the northern island of Hokaido. There they were welcomed to the town of Shimizu in an elaborate opening banquet, complete with speeches from local political leaders and school administrators. Each visitor was adopted by a host, who took the guests into their homes where they became family members for one week. During the day, the group had a chance to shadow their "brother" or "sister" for a part of the school schedule. They also visited with children in a pre-school and an elementary, where they ate a school lunch with the children. Lessons in Japanese calligraphy, origami and kendo sword fighting were a part of the week, as were an evening at a Buddhist temple complete with Zen meditation, a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, and fireworks in the parking lot. By the end of the week, 14 Chelsea young people were proficient with chopsticks, eagerly shopping for kimonos and ceremonial swords, and regularly bowing to adults whenever they entered or left the room.

This year's participants were Jennifer Adams, Virginia Bailey, Sarah Brigham, Kyle Brown, Carly Daniels, Caitlin Dark, Jeff Deikis, Genny Gourley, Julie Inwood, Emily Leidner, Erin McLaughlin, Rachel Misenheimer, Jessica Percha, Mark Tapping. Chaperones were Ann Daniels, Nancy Brown, John Deikis and Karen Misenheimer. Liaisons for the program, which is encouraged by, but not officially supported by Chelsea Schools, are Beach teachers Andrea Maines and Carol Straller. Chelsea area resident, Deborah Oakley, administers the Chelsea-Shimizu fund, which has been supported in the past by the Chelsea Education Foundation, the Rotary Club, various Chelsea merchants, and fund raisers organized by the students themselves. For additional information, or to make a contribution, contact Deborah Oakley.

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