Now the 'new kid': Keota student heading to Japan on exchange scholarship

By Pennie Embry, Staff Writer

KEOTA, June 11 — “I’m a little bit nervous,” said Rachel Hogan. “I’ve been in the same school since I was 3, so I’ve never been the new kid anywhere.”
Now she’s going to find out what it’s like.

But the 16-year-old Keota senior isn’t moving — not to another state, or even to another town. In fact, although she is traveling across an ocean, she’s not actually moving anywhere.

But she will be attending school in Japan for several weeks this summer.

Hogan is one of two Family, Career and Community Leaders of America students from Haskell County, and one of only 14 FCCLA students from across the country, chosen to receive the 2009 Kikkoman/FCCLA Japanese Exchange scholarship.

The scholarship program is administered by Youth For Understanding USA, a non-profit international exchange organization. YFU was founded on the premise that international understanding can be achieved through individuals, and its student exchange program emphasizes family living as the core of the overseas learning experience.

Hogan will stay with a family and attend school in Saitama on mainland Japan near Tokyo. She only recently found out about her host family, so has not yet corresponded with them, “but I know I’m going to have a 16-year-old host sister and a 19-year-old host brother,” she said.

The scholarship Hogan won will pay for her domestic and international round-trip travel, placement with a carefully selected host family, regional orientation, a three-day Japan specific orientation in California and support services in Japan. Hogan, like all other scholarship recipients, is responsible for passport and visa fees, excess luggage fees, personal spending money and overseas medical insurance.

Next week, Hogan will fly from Fayetteville to California where she will attend the three-day orientation. There, she explained, she will study the language and customs of Japan, adding “And they’ll probably teach us things we need to know so we don’t embarrass ourselves.”

Hogan isn’t waiting until the orientation to learn about Japanese culture and language. She’s been researching Japan on the Internet and studying Japanese with the aid of a book.

“My teacher gave me a book called ‘Japanese for Dummies,’” said Hogan. “I’ve been practicing, but I’m not very good at it. I’m hoping I’ll pick it up a little better when I get over there. It’s really hard to try to figure out how to pronounce words because they sound so similar. The only difference in some words is a vowel or emphasis on some place in the word. You’ll say an entirely different word if you put the emphasis in the wrong place.”

Hogan has wanted to participate in the Japanese Exchange program for several years.

“I’ve wanted to go to Japan, ever since I heard about the program,” said Hogan. “It’s pretty exciting. Then I heard one of the girls who had been to Japan speak at the (FCCLA) state convention last year, and I thought to myself, ‘I can do this.’ So I applied and I was chosen.”

Hogan believes the experience will both mature and shape her. “It’s going to make me aware of another culture, make me more rounded as a person and broaden my horizons a little bit,” she said. “I hope I can bring that back over here and try to share it with other people. And I hope to take some of my heritage over there.”

Hogan, a member of the Choctaw Nation, is Junior Miss Choctaw Nation for District 5. She plans to bring her traditional Choctaw dress to Japan, and also bring Native American gifts for her host family. When she returns to Oklahoma, she will share what she learned about Japan by preparing a presentation for her school or for an FCCLA event. She hopes to encourage other students to participate in the foreign exchange program.

The trip to Japan represents a lot of firsts for Hogan. “I’ve never been overseas, so this will be a first,” she said. “I’ve been away from my mom, but this will be the first time I will be sort of on my own, independent. We’ll see how it works out, but I’m looking forward to it.”

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