On Wednesday, May 2, five Japanese school officials toured JC. They looked in on some classes, asked questions about the curriculum, and tried to become acquainted with the school.

According to Coordinator of International Students Program Sandi Seiler, the men were scoping out the school for La Salle High School, a Catholic high school located in Hakodate, Japan. “They were basically here to get a feel for JC to see if they could envision visiting us with a group, possibly next year,” Seiler said.

Seiler explains how the idea for the exchange came about.

“It was through a contact of [Director of Enrollment and Marketing Jesse] Roberts,” she said.

“It’s an all-boys Catholic high school…it’s a very, very unique school, which was interesting to us. They have a population of about 1,000 boys over five years,” Seiler said.

According to Seiler, La Salle already runs a U.S. exchange program and visits every other year.

“This school in Japan has a fairly long-standing program where they take a group of their boys to the U.S. for a cultural exchange. My understanding is that they’re looking for a school to visit on the off years,” Seiler said.

“The Japanese gentlemen included the principal of La Salle High School, one of their ninth grade social studies and geography teachers, who is also in some role as a coordinator of all ninth graders, an agent to figure out the logistics with transportation and hotels, and two gentlemen from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who basically help schools with the housing of international students in schools with those programs,” Seiler said.

According to Seiler, multiple dates have been considered for visiting next year, but “details have not been confirmed yet.”

 Adam Kuester is a News Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.