This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly

The end of January marked the beginning of the winter video conferences between grade 6 students and their contemporaries from Harker’s sister school, Tamagawa Gakuen, in Tokyo, Japan.

“All of our sixth graders have been partnered with a buddy in Japan whom they have been emailing through their computer science class,” said Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s director of global education.

Back in September, grade 6 students “met” their Tamagawa buddies and families from Japan for the first time via two separately held video conferences.

This spring, a contingent of Harker’s grade 6 students will head to Japan as part of the reciprocal exchange program.

“The video conferences are fun events held on the Blackford campus. We have a translator present to assist with communication,” explained Walrod. “The students are always so excited for them!”