When I was considering where to go to high school eighth year, I considered a number of varying factors, one of which being the foreign exchange opportunities I would have at that school. As many may be aware BHSEC offers quite a few exchange programs to its students: the Chinese exchange program available to tenth grade students and older, the Spanish exchange also available to tenth grades and up, the Turkish exchange for 10th graders and Year 1’s, as well as the semester in Spain. Last week, BHSEC had the pleasure of hosting another exchange program, wherein nine of my tenth grade classmates took on the responsibility of hosting an equal number of Japanese high school students in their junior year. This exchange has been in the works for over a year and was spearheaded by Dean Brutsaert.

The Japanese exchange program was announced last November, a year ago, and it encouraged ninth graders to apply. The faculty was looking for seven excited and bright participants to fuel this unique exchange. It found those participants in ninth graders, Thea, Alex, Odette, Jennan, Nikki, and twins Alea and Alisha. The exchange was scheduled to take place last spring but just days before the BHSEC students were set to leave for Japan, a deadly earthquake and subsequent tsunami and nuclear damage ravaged the country. For a few uncertain weeks it almost appeared as if the exchange would be canceled but due to the exhaustive effort put forth by both Dean Brutsaert and the faculty of the Nagoya University Affiliated Upper School, the exchange was rescheduled for the 2011-12 school year. With the start of the new school year, Dean Brutsaert looked for two more students to join the program and accepted Sara and Lara to be American hosts.

Last week the first half of the exchange took place right here in the halls of BHSEC, as we became host to the five boys and four girls sent from the Japanese City of Nagoya. Mikiko, Koh, Toyoda, Mai, Nagasaka, Asami, Matsumoto, Mino, and Takehana stayed with their host students and were fully immersed in New York City culture. On the first day of the exchange, Monday, December 12th, the Japanese students accompanied their American hosts to their everyday classes including Chemistry, Chinese, Algebra and Geometry and an English class, and immediately spotted differences between our school system and their own. In their school the class size is twice ours, with the class average being about forty students. BHSEC’s general class structure is a seminar discussion with interaction between the professors and students existing in the classrooms. However, in at their school, all classes are structured as lectures; the students are instructed to keep quiet and listen to their teachers, and in their school uniforms are strictly enforced. One student commented, “In our school, when the teacher talks everyone stays quiet. We’re afraid.”

While the students were at BHSEC, they presented to a few different classes namely Physics with Calculus, where they showed a different method for finding the midpoint of a rectangle and Dean Brutsaert’s Immunology class. In Immunology, they gave a lengthy presentation on the geographic prevalence of a specific gene that indicated a tolerance to alcohol using DNA chips, and the implications their experimental procedures had for Cancer research. Many of the methods they used to extract their results are commonly taught at BHSEC namely Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis. Although they struggled with some of the words, each of the presenters managed to deliver a coherent and intelligent presentation on some very difficult material. While their was a language and cultural barrier, the students seemed to connect over the universal language of science.

What have they been up to with the freedom New York City offers? During the school week, the students were able to utilize the many attractions New York has to offer including the Statue of Liberty, the Natural History Museum, and Ellis Island, and even the immigration museum off the shore of the Hudson River. When asked what they most wanted to see in terms of sightseeing, one by one they responded, “The Statue of Liberty.” This response was followed by a chorus of “Me too…” and they all blushed as they tried to think up something else that interested them on the spot. They were able to experience American foods, which they said were tasty, but that they will be glad to go home and have the comfort of their regular delicacies since American food was deemed unhealthy and served in large portions. The evenings were filled with scheduled events between, but in between there was room for fun with their American hosts. One BHSEC student even took her student to one of the many concerts “The National” played the last week. Some of the students were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. Only one was undecided while the others responded: anchorwoman, pharmacologist and scientist. Needless to say, the first half of the exchange was considered to be a complete success, and the BHSEC students cannot wait for their turn to experience new cultures when it comes to be their turn in March.

Contributions by Nika Sabasteanski ’12