When eight Japanese students set foot in Indianapolis International Airport on Jan. 8, it will mark the continuation of a tradition that started more than a decade ago.
A sisterhood between Franklin and Kuji, Japan, which spans 6,170 miles, was strengthened in 2007 by a foreign exchange program. Kuji brought its first group of students to Franklin that year. Since then, 12 groups of students from Kuji have visited Franklin.
“They select students from local schools and have orientation sessions for 8th graders and 11th graders to prepare them to come here,” said Greg Moore, a member of the mayor’s committee for the Kuji sister city relationship. “There’s a lot to practice in English as well as the cultural exchange.”
Along with the eight students will be a representative from Kuji and two English teachers who will serve as translators. The students will be hosted by seven families, with one of those hosts housing two students. The three adults on the trip will stay at a local bed and breakfast.
Highlights of the itinerary include meeting Franklin Mayor Steve Barnett at City Hall, touring Franklin College, visiting several Franklin schools and a chance for the chaperones to meet Barnett and Franklin Schools Superintendent David Clendening for dinner at Big Woods.
The city of Kuji subsidizes most of the trip, with students paying the equivalent of about $500, Moore said.
While Kuji students travel to Indiana every year, Franklin students have only made one trip to Kuji, in 2015, when the Rotary Club and several businesses helped fund their journey.
That year, 10 students — five from Franklin Middle School and five from Franklin Community High School — made the trek to the other side of the world.
If Franklin students were to travel to the foreign country again, they would likely have to come up with the money themselves, Moore said.
