A Visitor from Philadelphia, USA / フィラデルフィアからのお客さま

Before winter break we had a visit from Amy Danford, a teacher from Friends Select School in Philadelphia. Friends Select is a co-educational Quaker school for students aged 4 to 18. Amy was in Japan on vacation with her family but wanted to come to the school to catch a glimpse of life in a Japanese Quaker school and to talk with Aoki sensei about the possibilities of building a relationship between our schools. Last year I had many meetings with Amy’s colleague, Chris, discussing whether we could somehow create some opportunities for our students to do exchanges. While this sounds like a great idea and easy to accomplish on paper, it’s actually a little harder to do in reality.

　We need to think about how to mentally and emotionally support students while they are on exchange, hoe to support families who may become hosts for the students, and how to fit such an endeavor into the school calendar when schools in America and schools in japan run on quite different schedules. I’m not sure what will happen regarding the idea of an exchange program with Friends Select, but at least we can discuss many different ideas and hopefully start to build a relationship between our schools.

　Amy’s visit was very special in starting that relationship. She was able to join the 7th grade students in their pageant rehearsal, observe and meet students in the 12th grade religion class, and have lunch with those who joined the special English lunch help that day. I’m glad to know we have a friend in another Friends School around the world.