Sophie Wynkoop
In November, students from the Yokohama Science Frontier High School visited Saint Maur in order to learn about our school and immerse themselves in a new environment. YSFH is a high school that specializes in teaching students about the sciences (which includes medicine and engineering as well!). YSFH students were able to shadow Saint Maur students and follow them to their classes, learning how our school works. This exchange program was a follow-up to last month’s, where Saint Maur students were able to spend a couple of days touring YSFH. This was an overall amazing experience for both parties, and one Saint Maur will not forget!
Doctor Suzuki teaching students
Satomi and Wuxon (both aged 15) were two of the YSFH students who visited Saint Maur. When asked why they chose to participate in the exchange program, Satomi responded that she wanted to “improve her English speaking skills.” Wuxon had a similar response, saying that he wanted to visit Saint Maur to meet English speakers and really challenge himself to only communicate in English. YSFH is not an international school, so all their classes are taught in Japanese. It is not surprising that many of their students are not advanced English speakers and have ambitions to improve their speaking in the language.
You may find yourself to be curious as to why Satomi and Wuxon chose to attend a high school that is so focused on the sciences. When probed with this question, it was intriguing to hear their reasons as well as future career aspirations. Satomi said that she has a “real passion for the sciences, especially biology.” In fact, as a career path, she is considering pursuing a job in the veterinary field. Wuxon chose YSFH for a slightly different reason, that being that he loved the diverse campus that the school offers and the food that is provided. He, of course, also has an enjoyment for the sciences– with the aspiration of working in AI, Wuxon hoped that attending YSFH would make it easier for him to work in that field. Specifically, he is aware of the language barriers that can make many global interactions difficult and wants to work towards a solution for that issue. By working in AI, Wuxon wants to help develop programs that are designed to be the “best translation device.” We wish him luck in this endeavor, and hope that YSFH can aid him in achieving this goal!
Saint Maur student and YSFH student
Saint Maur and YSFH are both different in a variety of ways. Satomi was quite surprised by a couple of things here at Saint Maur: in addition to our smaller campus, she was especially appreciative of the “many languages that are taught here.” At YSFH, it seems that only English and Japanese are offered as language courses, which differs from Spanish and French, both of which are taught at Saint Maur. Satomi emphasized how important she sees language diversity in early adolescence to be, and is envious that our school takes that into consideration. Similarly, Wuxon was impressed with the number of multilingual and multicultural students in our school. It seemed to him that, “everyone speaks more than one language”, something that doesn’t happen as often in YSFH. It was very interesting to hear about their takes on languages and cross-culturalism.
Saint Maur student and YSFH student
Overall, the YSFH student exchange program was beneficial for all students involved. We, at Saint Maur, were able to learn about a school that centers around the sciences and got to know some of the students that attend there better. The YSFH students had the opportunity to get to know an international school, as well as meet our diverse school population. The experience was an incredible opportunity to bring students from the two schools together and help all participants to understand a different form of education than their own.
Sophie Wynkoop