East meets West: Japanese Students Visit Rivers

Sho and Shunta will be full participants in the Rivers experience, from advisory to study halls to after-school sports. Sho is playing JV boys’ soccer while Shunta has joined the varsity football team as a manager. In the classroom, the boys are taking a full course load while adjusting to the different atmosphere American schools offer.

“The classes are much smaller, but students are able to talk more,” said Sho, who lived in London before moving to Japan. “In Japan, we take a lot of notes but here we are able to speak to the teachers more.”

The Rivers connection continues when the boys leave each day as they are staying not just with families of students, but with Rivers alums as well. Sho is staying with John Michael Baker ’85 P’16,’18 while Shunta is staying with Gregory Stoller ’87 P’19,’21.

Besides being fully invested in the Rivers experience, both the Bakers and the Stollers have their own connections to Japan that made them ideal host families for Sho and Shunta. Mrs. Baker’s family had hosted a Japanese exchange student for a year while she was growing up and Mr. Stoller is fluent in Japanese after spending time teaching in Japan.

While each family and its connections to Japanese culture has helped ease the transition for the boys, both Shunta and Sho have had study-abroad experiences in the past. Sho lived in London for eight years and has strong English skills while Shunta has been abroad just once, but is working hard to improve both his spoken and written English.

Rivers’ relationship with the international school begins at the top with Headmaster George Pruitt and his friendship with Middle School Humanities teacher Laura Brewer. As the school has grown its international relationships over the years, Pruitt has always expressed an interest in sending students to Rivers.

Last spring, the Nagoya school’s dormitories served as a hub for the Middle School trip to Japan and then, in April, Head of Middle School Susie McGee spoke at the school’s opening ceremony. All of this has culminated in Sho and Shunta’s presence on campus and represents the start of an exciting relationship for both Rivers and the Nagoya International Junior and Senior High School.