Background information
On March 11, 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 struck the island of Japan. The resultant tsunami produced over 15,000 casualties and unimaginable damage to the east coast of the island. To learn more about the March 11 Earthquake, please click here. To view videos and photographs of the tsunami, please click here.
The Kizuna (Bonds of Friendship) Project was designed by the Japanese government to respond to the devastating natural disaster.
According to The Laurasian Institution, "The purpose of the program is to promote understanding of Japan's recovery after the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 among the U.S., to encourage greater understanding between the youth of Japan and the United States and foster long-term and ongoing interest in one another by providing firsthand experiences with the culture of the other."
Littleton High School and The Kizuna Project
LHS has been selected to be one of eight US high schools to participate in the exchange through the extensive effort from our instrumental music teacher, Mr. Don Emmons. LHS is the only Coloradan high school to participate in the effort. Of the school, only 23 students and two chaperones, Principal Dr. Amy Oaks and Mr. Emmons, will travel to Japan in March.
LHS will participate in community service outreach programs and instrumental music performances, as well as immerse themselves into a short home stay experience. Upon the return home, students will host a Japanese student for a few days at the end of March for a home stay experience and give a presentation about their experience abroad.
LHS Participant Criteria
- You are currently a Junior or Senior, AND
- Your cumulative GPA is 3.0 or higher, AND
- You are in good standing in terms of your behavior and attendance at school, AND
- You have strong presentation and public speaking skills; each student is required to prepare a presentation about disaster recovery in our community and to present it to school or public audiences (in English) during your visit, AND
- *You would be a terrific representative of Littleton High School, Littleton Public Schools, the City of Littleton, and the State of Colorado, AND: (a) You are currently enrolled in Japanese OR (b) You are the nominated representative of our school newspaper OR (c) You are (and will be next semester) a member of symphonic winds or orchestra, and you have been nominated as a musician capable of performing in a select ensemble in an international performance, AND
- Your family is willing to host a Japanese student.
*Criterion 5 explained:
1. Students enrolled in Japanese are there to support the team with tackling the language.
2. Student musicians are required to perform at least two concerts while abroad.
3. The student reporter is responsible for maintaining a regular blog to keep the LHS community informed about our progress. The Kizuna Project Blog is her production for this requirement.
Please visit the Participants page to meet the LHS staff and students involved in the project.
Information present on this page was aided by preliminary acceptance and informative packets provided to the reporter and student participants. Some text was borrowed from the authors of the "Kizuna Project" document written by Dr. Amy Oaks and Mr. Don Emmons in addition to acceptance letters from The Laurasian Institute.
