Contributed Photo
Ready to fly: HSC students Jonah Rosenberg, Jazmin Rosario, Diana Robles, and Justin Welch, who worked with Japanese class to fold 1,000 paper cranes to take to Japan.
High School in the Community (HSC) junior Ty’Nique Turner will get the chance to visit Japan and try out the language she’s been teaching herself since middle school, thanks to New Haven Public Schools’ return of international adventures.
Assuming organizers can raise a lot of money fast.
Turner is one of 20 students whom district Supervisor of World Languages Jessica Haxhi plans to take on a trip to Japan this spring.
This trip is one of six total international trips approved for this school year for students from Sound School, Wilbur Cross, Engineering and Science University Magnet School, King Robinson, Davis Street School, Hillhouse, and HSC.
Other destinations include Bonaire, Costa Rica, Quebec, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico.
Haxhi, who teaches Japanese part time at Hillhouse, is aiming to bring some students from Hillhouse and HSC on the Japan trip. The students will range from level one to three in Japanese.
To make it to Japan cost-free to students, the team needs to raise $70,000. So far it has raised a total of $3,200.
The money needs to be secured by March at the latest and the team is still looking for donations.
Click here to donate.
Fundraising has already begun through small and large efforts. Students from both schools hosted a Onigiri Night where they made and sold Japanese rice balls for families. HSC also has a weekly sale of boba and ramen during the school day. For Valentine’s Day they plan to sell candy grams.
The Whalley Avenue state corrections facility pitched in by hosting a fish fry lunch for staff to buy lunch in support of the Japan trip. This effort raised $660 for the schools.
Haxhi emphasized the importance of the international trips as opportunities for students who have been significantly impacted by the Covid pandemic and attend struggling schools.
“International travel really is one of the greatest gifts we can give the students,” she said.
She added that it’s impossible to study all of the humanities within the four walls of a school building.
Haxhi said the entire trip will be a learning experience every step of the way for students, especially those who will be traveling and using a passport for the first time.
Turner: A lifelong dream.
Turner has had a love for Japan and Japanese culture since middle school. “It’s always been a dream to see what it’s really like there,” she said in an interview Thursday.
She is excited to put her skills to use. She has been taking Japanese since her freshman year, after beginning to teach herself the language in middle school. She practices almost daily by having conversations with herself or friends.
Along with excitement about the trip, she feels a bit nervous because she’s never been on a plane before. She’s only ever traveled within Connecticut.
As a self-proclaimed “foodie,” she said, she looks forward most to tasting authentic street foods and restaurant fare and comparing them to New Haven dishes.
She’s been saving up money by doing lots of babysitting and careful spending. “I have food at home,” she reminds herself.
She plans to pay attention to how she’s treated as a person of color in Japan and talk to people about what it’s like living there. That’s because she’s considering attending college in there and becoming an English teacher in Japan.
While in Japan the students plan to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. They hope to deliver 1,000 paper cranes they created in New Haven to the Children’s Peace Monument, inspired by the story of Sadako Sasaki.
They will also see temples and shrines to learn about Japanese religious traditions. They plan to see the Buddhist temple complex located in Nara, Japan, known as “Tōdai-ji.”
They’ll be tasked with taking public transportation, ordering food with locals, and having conversations with others.
“In New Haven, kids always want to do something bigger and better. This opens up doors to do that,” Turner said.
She added that she believes this opportunity will help youth learn to travel early on and show schools that you can do exciting things with students like travel.
“This will impact my life in more than one way,” Turner concluded.
Whalley Ave Dept of Corrections team at January 5 fish fry.
Would be great if the Community Foundation or United Way or another organization with the infrastructure could facilitate giving so that donors don't have to mail checks (and could do so without putting the administrative fees on the schools).