As you'll see in the pictures, we had a fun science class that everyone thought Mrs. McMillan would have loved. They also took part in an art class where they drew pictures of Mt. Fuji and ocean waves. They mentioned that Mrs. Davis had done something similar this past year, based on famous paintings by a Japanese artist. Their last class was Japanese poetry writing. The school's assistant head, a published poet himself, taught them about Tanka poems, a very old and traditional form of Japanese poetry similar to the haiku. Each of our students wrote poems of their own which will be published in their school magazine.
The big event of the day was the farewell ceremony involving the entire school (elementary, junior high, and high school). The Bright School students sat on stage and each gave a short speech about their time in Japan. Again, I was extremely proud of them for having the courage to stand up in front of 500 or more people and speak clearly and thoughtfully. At the end we circled around and sang the Bright School song for the school. As we exited the auditorium, the entire school gave us a rousing ovation.
Most of the afternoon was spent playing soccer and games with the Japanese students or continuing to do some projects in the art room. As the afternoon wore on, our students' host families came to pick them up for one last night with their families. Each of our students wrote beautiful thank you notes that they planned to give their host families at dinner time.
I don't think a headmaster could be more proud of his students than I am. To see them bravely take on a new and challenging experience and grow tremendously in the process is one of the most marvelous things to watch. What a wonderful group of young boys and girls.
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