Anyone who walked into the Carl Boyer Room at Santa Clarita City Hall on Thursday would find a few suitcases, even one with an In-N-Out cup sitting on the top.
It’s a California staple, so it’s no surprise that students from Matsudo, Japan, made a quick pit stop as they were welcomed to Southern California.
As a part of the Santa Clarita Sister Cities Program, the fourth annual Matsudo Delegation Welcome and Youth Exchange took place, welcoming the following students before they’re off on their week-long journeys with their host families: Terin Goto, Natsume Nemoto and Masatoshi Mizutani (Alex).
“It’s a great pleasure seeing all these happy faces here. We’re very thrilled with our Sister Cities Program, and we always love meeting students. I’m very happy to welcome everyone from Matsudo, Japan,” Santa Clarita Mayor Laurene Weste said. “Youth exchanges provide multiple benefits, and we hope this experience will offer the students exposure to a new culture that enables them to learn some new perspectives.”
Valencia High School students Aubrey and Lucas Nguyen, Evangeline Nunez and Abhi Bayya hosted the students.
“It’s our first time, and the kids are definitely excited. They were asked by a teacher if they were interested, and they jumped on it. I’ve always wanted to participate in something like this, so the opportunity came up and we talked about it, and the kids were more excited than we are,” Top Nguyen, mother of Aubrey, 15, and Lucas, 18, said. “We were given guidelines, and they are going to class with the kids and experiencing American high school life.”
Nguyen said that the students were told merely a few weeks ago, and have even been connecting with each other online prior to their visit.
“They’re going to make friends, and they’re going to get to know each other and do things after school, so they’re just going to shadow them and see what it’s like. For us, they’ll be in our home, and we get to take them and be a family. They’re here starting Thursday, then Wednesday morning they’re going to sight-see with their group,” Nguyen said. “They’re going to watch a volleyball game. We’regoing to Disneyland.”
Having been to Japan before and visiting Tokyo Disneyland, Nguyen is excited to share the original Disneyland park with her guest.
Vani Grandhe, mother of Abhi Bayya, 17, talked of her experiences being hosted when she was an undergraduate student in Kentucky.
“They shared about this program through the Medical Science Academy. Abhi came back and said that we have the opportunity to host students, and we were very open. I had a host family for two years when I studied here,” Grandhe said. “It’s more important now than ever. I think sometimes they’re more connected. It’s important for kids to know [other cultures], so they get a little bit of that opening into understanding. The structure of the schools are different, the food is probably different.”
Having had the opportunity to learn about traditions and holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Grandhe looks forward to welcoming Mizutani with warmth.
“When I was a student, I enjoyed the warmth. When I came to a new country, I did not know a lot of the traditions. Their warmth and opening their house and making food that I like, but also introducing me to foods that they have, [was enjoyable,]” Grandhe said. “The hope is that they’re going to form a bond that’s going to stay beyond this week.”
