An opportunity of a lifetime (8/16/04)

My family would like to thank a Portland factory for an extraordinary opportunity that was made possible to our son this summer.

FCC (Indiana) allows area high school students to enter an essay contest detailing why they might be interested in visiting Japan. This opportunity is also open to high school-age students of employees, regardless of their high school.

This opportunity is offered to all JCHS students and children of employees and, yet, I have been told they receive roughly only 20 essays yearly.

My son, Mitchell Thomas, and Jason Meinerding, whose mother works at FCC, were chosen this year.

We were given several weeks notice, and FCC paid for everything, including passport photos and expediting the passport process so that it would be back in time. They also paid for the round-trip airfare and made sure both boys had host families when they arrived.

Yes, this was an exciting and scary experience for all of us — I think for the parents more than the students. FCC helped us with the knowledge of what to take as far as clothing, shoes, etc. They also gave us very useful information with any questions we had and tried to help make sure we avoid any faux pas as far as blending in with the Japanese culture and what to expect from the host families.

Mitchell’s host family consisted of a host father, mother, grandmother, brother (just a couple of years younger than Mitchell) and host sister.

We were a bit apprehensive to be sending our “youngest” son (he has a twin brother, Ian) to a country halfway around the world, but we were fortunate enough to be able to e-mail each other almost every day. He even sent a few digital photos so that we could see a small part of what he was seeing.

While in Japan, Mitchell was able to visit many places that most of us only dream about. He has some wonderful architectural pictures of temples and buildings that we definitely wouldn’t see here. He visited Mount Fuji one weekend and met up with Kentaro Ohgo, an exchange student at Jay County High School last year that Mitchell and Ian had become friends with.

Mitchell’s host family asked him what he would like to see while in Japan, and when he replied, “the ocean,” they jumped in the car after supper and went to the ocean.

One of the things that FCC told us we should do was to send gifts for the host family and other people that he might meet over there.

It was a joy to go on hunting (shopping) expeditions to find unique and interesting tokens from Indiana and the United States.

Mitchell’s host family showered him with gifts from the moment he came into their home, and the hospitality that was shown to him was without measure. His host mother even mailed him a box of presents when he ran out of room in his luggage.

There is so much to tell that I feel I have only just touched on the highlights, and we are still learning about all that Mitchell experienced in Japan. The mementos and memories will last a lifetime.

To end this letter, I would like to encourage and challenge students given the chance to write this essay for a chance at a trip to Japan to do so. Not very often are people given the chance to take a trip this fabulous and only be expected to take spending money.

Once again, from the bottom of our hearts, we wish to thank FCC (Indiana) for the opportunity granted to Mitchell this summer.

Sincerely,

Randy, Jo, Mitchell

and Ian Thomas

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