It was the journey of a lifetime for 23 New Westminster Secondary School grades 9 to 12 students.
They traveled to Japan on a Japanese government - UNESCO - Asia Pacific Foundation Canada sponsored exchange trip to Japan from May 7 to 17.
"This fully sponsored trip - coined Kakeihashi (building bridges) - was made available to NWSS students who wrote a 250-word essay about why they would like to go to Japan," Japanese language teacher Kathleen Shannon wrote in an email to The Record. "Fifty students applied after it being advertised in the school for one short week."
There was a pre-departure reception at the consul-generals residence in Vancouver, she wrote, adding it was the students' first practice at etiquette and wearing business attire in preparation for their trip.
The trip was jammed packed and included a visit to an instant noodle factory, a chemical recycling plant in Tokyo, a takoyaki company in sister city Moriguchi, and two-night homestay with students from Hagoromo gakuen, Shannon wrote.
"Students found the high school homestay visit to be the highlight of the trip," she said.
The students were interviewed by four newspapers and participated in one of the oldest festivals in Japan.
"Besides learning politeness, business etiquette, being on time, bowing, and Japanese, students learned to be kinder, gentler people as we travelled together," Shannon wrote.
Academy is growing
Urban Academy, an independent school in Queen's Park, recently announced it is expanding to a second site this September.
The school will operate a junior as well as a senior campus in order to meet the needs of increasing enrolment.
"We are thrilled to announce that we will be opening a senior campus, and are so excited about what that means for the development of our program and our growing school," Urban Academy's board chair Deborah McKenzie said in a media release.
"We are so passionate about educating our students in the most engaging and creative way possible, and now we have a gorgeous new campus to support our senior students."
The new campus is located at 601 Eighth Avenue (the corner of Sixth Street and Eighth Avenue) in New Westminster.
The school also recently announced it is offering seven full-ride, two-year scholarships for students demonstrating strength in academics, the arts and service, according to the release.
Students entering grades 8 to 11 are invited to apply for scholarships valued at up to $12,000 per year.
"With our second site, we finally have the space to be able to give back to a community that has so supported us," McKenzie said in the release.
"We would like to offer the opportunity for students who may otherwise not be able to afford specialty education with wonderful teacher support, to be able to experience excellence in education and change the course of their futures."
For more information and details on Urban Academy, visit www.urbanacademy.ca/scholarships. The scholarship application deadline is May 31.
Founded in 2001, Urban Academy has more than 120 students from junior kindergarten to Grade 12.
Is something happening at your school? Do you have an item for Class Act? Send ideas and news items to Niki Hope at nhope@ royalcityrecord.com
