CNMI-Japan student exchange program at SAES

San Antonio Elementary School sixth grade students will host a group of high school students from Yokohama, Japan through an exchange program aimed at determining the possibility of fostering international friendship.

The schools are meeting for the third consecutive year on March 9, 2000 following several months of preparations for the Northern Marianas-Japan student exchange program.

The Japanese high school students will be welcomed in the formal island way which will be followed by an assembly. Activities include exchange of greetings, gifts and performances.

Both CNMI and Japanese students will create banana prints on shirts, tour around the island and play relays and soccer. Winner of the soccer match will have the chance to keep the game ball.

The student exchange program will end with an activity where students will plant a commemorative tree.

The Japanese youths are students at one of several schools founded by Yasuo Miyazawa in Japan. An annual cultural exchange program was being initiated between the seniors of Miyazawa Gakuen and the students of Marianas High School in the 1980s.