By Mark Ambrogi
Sam Bognanno’s trip to Japan in July was an eye-opening experience.
“It was fabulous,” Kellee Bognanno said of her son’s experience. “It was transformative. He loved it. They went to Hiroshima so there was history involved. It was one of the best things we’ve ever done.”
Bognanno, now a 15-year-old Carmel High School sophomore, was part of exchange between Carmel and Seikyo Gakuen High School in Japan. That exchange between the sister schools has been going on for more than 20 years, said Carmel High School teacher and first-year program coordinator Lacey Grabek.
There will be a group of 34 students from Seikyo Gakuen, three members of the school’s PTA and three to five chaperones.
“(The Japanese students) come in March of odd years and we go in July of even years,” Grabek said.
Bognanno said her son didn’t get involved with the program because of a language class.
“His math teacher last year was one of the program coordinators and that’s how he learned about it,” she said.
Bognanno’s family will host a sophomore student.
“We sent a video of the whole family so they could see what we looked like,” Bognanno said. “We try to give them as much background information about our family and our student as we can and they do the same for us.”
Some Japanese students who hosted a Carmel student are going to be staying with that student’s family. However, that won’t be the case with the student staying with the Bognanno family.
“By and large their English is pretty good,” Bognanno said of the Japanese students. “There are some things that get lost in translation — I know that’s a cliché. I guarantee the students that come here will speak better English than we will speak Japanese.”
The group of Japanese students arrive in Chicago on March 14 and spend time sightseeing there. The group will then arrive in Carmel on March 18 with a buffet and welcome ceremony at the high school.
On March 19, the group attends classes with host students, followed by an ice cream social after school. On March 20 there will be a family square dance. The group will go to an Indiana Pacers game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 23. On March 24, there will be ice skating and a trip to Laser Flash. A meeting with Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard and a visit to Carmel Fire Department is set for March 25.
There will be a farewell ceremony on March 26 and they will leave the next morning.
