LANSING, MI — Tariq Brown, is an 11 year old, 7th grade student attending Pleasant View Middle School. Even as a pre-teen he understands the challenges that lay ahead in our increasingly global world. He is one of thirteen children selected to go to Otsu, Japan by the Lansing School District.
Tariq said, “I have been a good student for a long time. I have always gotten A’s and B’s. Last year, I got all A’s. I have been interested in Japanese culture since the fourth grade and I really want to go to Japan to learn more.”
There is one problem the group of chosen students must raise $20,000.00 to go on the trip. The program is looking for individuals and corporations to make donations to the group for this chance of a lifetime.
Marcus Brown, Tariq’s father, said, “We have an opportunity for our middle school students to visit Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, in November 2008. We just need to raise some more money.”
Students from Lansing’s sister city of Otsu, Japan have visited Lansing and the Lansing School District every other year since 1988. The students will attend the sister schools and live with Japanese families during their week-long visit to Japan.
This chance of a lifetime will be one of the few opportunities that the students will ever have to live in a different A diverse and very able group of students and alternates have been chosen from a list of applicants from Lansing’s middle schools. Lansing and Otsu officials carefully planned this educational experience to help the students, their families, classmates, and teachers gain a better understanding of the American and Japanese cultures as they make new friends and learn to adapt and succeed in a new environment.
The people of Otsu are very eager to return the hospitality we have shown their students over the years, and to provide our young people with an outstanding cultural experience.
If you would like to contribute, please complete the form below and mail your tax deductible donation to:
LEAF
Beekman Room 152
2901 Wabash Road
Lansing, MI 48910
If you have any questions, you may contact Kenneth Slater at 517.755.1020 at the
Board of Education offices.
