Of the nine students, one is coming from Tinian, said Vinycia Seman, the mayor’s office executive secretary and program coordinator.
Three students are from Mount Carmel School, one each from Saipan International School, Grace Christian Academy, Garapan Elementary School, two from Saipan Southern High School and one from Tinian Grace Christian Academy.
“We have younger students this year,” Seman said, adding that the students’ ages range from 6 to 12.
All participants have met the requirements including the 2.75 grade point average, she added.
Seman said the GPA requirement was included by the mayor’s office to ensure that a participating student is doing good in class so he or she won’t have much problem catching up with their lessons when they come back to Saipan.
Their trip is scheduled for Oct. 6 and the students will return on Oct. 12.
Seman said for this year, this will be the second time Saipan is sending students to Japan for the cultural exchange program. The first time happened last February.
Along with Seman, James Villagomez of the mayor’s office will accompany the students as chaperones.
This week, Seman said she will be meeting with the parents and students for an orientation.
The students will be performing a cultural dance in Japan, she added.
While there, they will also visit Ueno Zoo, Tokyo Disneyland, and the observatory at the Tokyo metropolitan government building.
Seman said the students will be spending time with their host families in Japan from Oct. 8 to 10.
About 25 CNMI families, for their part, have committed to host the 90 cultural students from Japan this November, she added.
Seman said they need 20 more host families to accommodate the Japanese students and their chaperones.
Interested families need to fill out the host family application form, which is available at the Saipan mayor’s office. For more information, call 234-6208 or email [email protected].
