Community - Class News

• Richmond


• Mt. Tabor / Taborsan newsletter,
  advisor parent and Tabor volunteer coordinator Melanie Scheuermann


• Grant * new *
  • Goodwill Ambassador Application for the National Cherry Blossom Festival can be obtained at their Web site.
  • The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) would like to invite all interested high school juniors and seniors to apply to the 2010 Reischauer Scholars Program (RSP). The RSP is an online course based at Stanford University that annually selects 25 exceptional students from throughout the United States to engage in an intensive study of Japan. Founded more than 30 years ago to help students understand the increasingly interdependent world in which we live, SPICE serves as a bridge between the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and elementary and secondary schools in the United States as well as independent schools abroad. In addition to the RSP, SPICE develops supplementary curriculum based on Stanford scholarship and conducts professional development seminars for teachers locally, nationally, and internationally. Named in honor of former Ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer, a leading educator and noted scholar of Japanese history and culture, the RSP offers Internet-based lectures and discussions on topics ranging from U.S.-Japan relations to Japanese history, literature, religion, art, politics, economics, education, and contemporary society. Prominent scholars affiliated with Stanford University, the University of Tokyo, and the University of Hawaii , among others, present lectures and engage students in online dialogue. The RSP received funding for the first three years of the program from the United States-Japan Foundation and FSI. Funding for the 2007 and 2008 RSP was provided by the Center for Global Partnership, The Japan Foundation, and FSI. To download the 2010 application form, high school juniors and seniors should visit www.reischauerscholars.org. The postmark deadline for the 2010 RSP application is October 16, 2009. For more information about the RSP, contact Naomi Funahashi , RSP coordinator and instructor.
  • Seitokai- Grant's Japanese Immersion Student Government- by Nick Budak
    JIP students from all grades at Grant High School have been meeting in their Japanese classroom on Wednesdays at lunch. Building on the idea of the Oya No Kai, they've created the Seitokai, or council of students - a group dedicated to getting involved in the JIP community from a student perspective at Grant High. Covering a wide variety of JMP experience from freshmen to seniors, the group has representatives from each separate JIP class at Grant, with about a dozen total members. Founded by Grant senior Sean Riley, an active community member, the group's mission is to unite the JIP in high school and promote extracurricular activities that enhance the Japanese language learning process. Recently, they've appeared at Mt. Tabor middle school to encourage students to follow the JIP to Grant, and also at Beverly Clearly school Fernwood campus to teach 3rd graders about Japanese culture. Within the JIP, they organized an effort to make 1000 cranes and take pictures of their classmates holding a "get well soon" banner for a 5-year-old named Kai who recently underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor. In the future, the group is aiming to make themselves heard by the Oya No Kai and Grant administration, in order to offer their opinion on JIP decisions that affect the Grant portion of the JIP. You can contact the members of Grant Seitokai at grantseitokai@gmail.com.

Three schools, two languages, one community