Going home: Kinta student traveling abroad on scholarship

By Doug Russell, News Editor

KINTA, June 4 — In a sense, Deedra Young is going home. Not the home she was raised in, and certainly not the home she lives in now, but sort of home just the same. She’s going to a place from which some of her family members came.

The soon-to-be 16-year-old Kinta student is going to spend much of the summer in Okinawa, a tiny island that is currently a part of the larger group of islands making up the nation of Japan.

Young is one of 10 students in the United States to win an Okinawa Peace Scholarship. She’s also one of two Haskell County students — and one of only 14 from across the country — to win the Youth For Understanding USA scholarships from the Kikkoman Corp. The scholarships pay for round trip travel expenses and also place students with host families in Japan.

The students themselves are responsible for personal spending money, passports, visa fees and overseas medical insurance.

“Even though my father’s family was from Okinawa, I’m planning on staying with a host family,” Young said, adding that she’s already been studying some Japanese to get a head start on the mandatory three-day orientation program she’ll have to undergo. “Some of the words are pretty difficult, because the only real difference is in where a particular sound is emphasized, but I’m getting it a little bit.”

The flight to Japan won’t be the Kinta teen’s first trip overseas. “I’ve had my passport for about seven years now,” she said. “One time my grandma wanted to go on a vacation to Jamaica and I went with her. This will be different, but I’m really looking forward to it.”

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