Students from Japan visit Nebraska as 20-year partnership continues

For more than two decades, a school in Japan has brought students to Nebraska as part of its curriculum.

Doane University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln helped host the group of roughly 150 ninth-graders from Senshu University Matsudo Junior and Senior High School this week. They spent the mornings in classes with Bright Lights, a Lincoln nonprofit, learning activities like crocheting, quilting and robotics. In the afternoons, the group visited iconic Nebraska spots like Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and the state Capitol building.

Lisa Wells, an executive director for the program, called Adventure Zone, has had various roles with the summer camp in the more than 20 years it’s been going on. She joined the second year, starting as a mentor.

“I don't think I would stay with it as long as I had if I wasn't getting something out of it myself,” Wells said. “The first couple of years, I was a mentor, the kids followed me out of the parking lot. I literally had to get in my car and drive away, and they were running after my car because they didn't want me to leave.”

Wells said the school started bringing students to Nebraska after visiting Colorado and not liking it. The school had a pen pal program with Lux Middle School in Lincoln, and students started coming to Nebraska, instead.

“I've had students ask me about, ‘Oh, are the cows in the front yard their pets? What is that growing?’” Wells said. “If we see a deer on our bus excursions, deer in the Japanese tradition is a very good sign, so we always point them out if we see them. They just go crazy, they think it’s so neat.”

Doane and UNL students can apply to become mentors who help the Japanese students with speaking English, as well as going with them to classes and on afternoon field trips. Wells said it’s hard to explain how amazing the experience is for the college students.

“At the end of the week, they're bawling,” Wells said. “They don't want the kids to go, the kids don't want to go. They've made these connections, and a lot of them still speak with their students.”

She added that many of the mentors still write letters or message with the students after the camp is done. U.S. middle school students can also join for the morning classes.

“My daughter did it when she was back in junior high, my oldest daughter,” Wells said. “She wrote and pen-pal-ed with a young lady from Japan for years. It's just another way of learning more, expanding your horizons.”

John Dawes, a ninth-grade English teacher at Senshu University Matsudo and the American trip coordinator, was a mentor with the program when he was a student at Doane University. He said he’s excited to spend another year with the program.

“This is the only place, other than Japan, that I've spent my life in,” Dawes said. “The opportunity to give a new cohort of students the opportunity to love Nebraska is something that I'm really, really excited to share.”

Dawes said the students were both excited and nervous to try out English on the trip, and they were looking forward to seeing the zoo.

“A lot of them are sad they're not going to be able to watch the College World Series,” Dawes said. “They love baseball in Japan. It's their number one sport.”

Wells said in her time with the program, students are always excited to see the animals in Nebraska.

“The kids are so excited about rabbits and squirrels because they don't see stuff like that unless it's in a zoo over in Japan,” Wells said.

The partnership between Senshu University Matsudo and Nebraska extends past the summer visit. Dawes said UNL sends students to Japan for three-month internships. The Japan school also has plenty of Nebraska posters and memorabilia on display, including Doane and UNL banners.

Dawes said the connection between Nebraska and Japan may not make sense, but it’s a deeply rooted connection.

“For Nebraskans, we don't think of our state as something that people from Japan would come visit here. I mean, most people in other states don't visit here,” Dawes said. “We take great pride in where we're from and whatnot, but it's not a big tourist place, unless it's like the College World Series is happening, but the more and more I've gotten familiar with Senshu, the deeper and deeper this relationship gets.”

Both Wells and Dawes shared how welcoming the school in Japan was to them when they were there. Dawes said they have helped him transition to living in Japan, and Wells said her visit was filled with celebration.

“All the kids that were there had been the students that came to Doane, and they were coming to the window, and ‘Lisa, Lisa!’ They had this big, little celebration for me. I felt that I was very important,” Wells said. “It’s just a beautiful culture who really does embrace friendship and kindness.”

Wells said the connections she and the students make are special, and she hopes others can learn from the relationships they cultivate from this program.

“I think with any culture you need to make connections with, because it is a very small, small world,” Wells said. “I think once we open up and learn more about one another, it's going to be an even better place to live, to travel, to meet people, to form friendships.”