A pair of Timaru secondary school students are set for the trip of a lifetime after receiving a scholarship to visit Japan.
Mountainview High School student Hannah Schick, 16, and Timaru Boys’ High School student Thomas Crawford, 15, were both awarded a JTC NZ Scholarship.
The scholarship is awarded to a New Zealand secondary school student who has an interest in Japanese language and culture and would like to experience a short-term study opportunity at a Japanese high school.
The two students will be provided with return air tickets between Christchurch and Tokyo and Uni-Care insurance which covers them for the whole travel period.
They will both be living with homestay families for the duration of the trip.
Hannah will be spending two weeks at Hoyu Gakuin High School in Tokyo, while Thomas will spend two weeks at Keiai Gakuen School in Chiba, just outside Tokyo.
It is the first time a student from TBHS or Mountainview has been awarded the scholarship.
Hannah said it would be the opportunity of a lifetime.
‘‘I will be able to experience a completely different way to live life.
‘‘In the future I want to live in Japan.
‘‘I believe that this exchange will be an amazing experience which will help better prepare me for this in the future.
‘‘I want to learn more about Japanese culture and how it is different from my own while being fully immersed in the Japanese language.’’
Mountainview High School head of languages and Japanese teacher Petra Okerafor said she was delighted Hannah had received the scholarship.
‘‘This opportunity highlights the growing global connections available at MVHS through our international programs.
‘‘We believe this experience will be invaluable for Hannah and will serve as a foundation for her future global engagement.’’
Principal Kenny Diamond was pleased to see Hannah had been recognised.
‘‘It’s really nice because Hannah’s a great kid, she works hard and deserves to have these kind of opportunities.
He hoped it would set a precedent and that they would have more students be successful in the scholarship in the future.
‘‘The school is really proud of Hannah and we hope she has a great time when she is over there.’’
He said Japanese as a subject was rapidly growing in popularity at Mountainview.
‘‘It’s grown from one class in year 9 to classes in year 10 and 11 and now for next year we’ll probably have about 20% of the school doing Japanese across all year levels.
‘‘We are the only school in South Canterbury that offers it as a subject. Having Japanese students in the school is adding to that, as well.
‘‘They make friends with our international students and become interested in the culture and then want to take the subject.’’
Thomas said he applied for the scholarship to have a new experience.
‘‘I’ve lived in New Zealand all my life and I’ve also lived in the Timaru area for my whole life.
‘‘I would love to see the temples, the temples and cherry blossoms are quite famous.
‘‘When I applied I didn’t think I’d get it but I’m really glad I did. It’s a great opportunity.’’
Timaru Boys’ High School international director Andrew Gill said it was great have the opportunity to send a student to Japan.
‘‘We’ve had seven or eight students from the school Thomas is going to come to us, so we have a strong relationship with them.
‘‘Kei [Ando] from JTC and I travel to Japan a couple of times a year so it’s great to have her wanting to put something back into Timaru.
‘‘Thomas made a great job of his application, we wish him the best and hope he makes the most of the opportunity.’’
Hannah and Thomas will travel to Japan in January next year.
