Mizuho Student Exchange is in need of host families for this year’s student exchange with Morgan Hill’s Japanese Sister City: Mizuho-machi in Tokyo, Japan.
Eight middle school students – seven girls and one boy – as well as two adult male chaperones, will be arriving in town August 19 and staying for 10 days.
“This will promise to be a rewarding cultural experience with the possibility of making new, lifelong friends,” said Coordinator Judy Little with the exchange program.
Host families, who must be from Morgan Hill or San Martin, are required to provide housing, meals and transportation to school or the meeting place designated for the exchange students.
Mizuho Student Exchange is hoping to lock up local families with middle-school aged students from the Morgan Hill Unified School District. The Mizuho students will attend Morgan Hill Schools for five days and participate in other scheduled activities.
The sister city exchange program started with the first set of six Japanese students, along with two chaperones, coming to Morgan Hill in 2008. The next year, eight Morgan Hill students, accompanied by two adults, traveled to the sister city in Japan. Students go through a rigorous application and interview process, which includes writing an essay on why they want to travel abroad, before being selected.
In 2010, Morgan Hill welcomed six exchange students from Japan again. After an earthquake postponed a trip to Japan in 2011, eight Morgan Hill students left for Tokyo in 2012.
“The program has really been successful,” said Murv Little of Mizuha Student Exchange. “The students who have gone to both countries have gone on to bigger and better things.”
Those families interested in hosting an exchange student are urged to contact Judy Little at (408) 779-8170 or by email at ju***@mu**.com. For further information and an application, families can also contact Murv Little at (408) 896-2465 or by email at mu**@mu**.com
