The City of St. Petersburg and its Sister City Takamatsu, Japan, announced this year’s Takamatsu Student Ambassadors. Continuing a tradition that started in 1988, three pairs of students will swap cities, countries, and families, living in each other’s homes this summer.
Rising seniors Rachel Eeten (Osceola Fundamental High School), Jared Jackson (Lakewood High School Center for Advanced Technologies), and Jayda Parkes-Quarrie (St. Petersburg Collegiate High School) were selected to represent St. Petersburg in Takamatsu this summer.
This summer, students will travel from St. Pete to Takamatsu in early July, and will attend high school for two days with their host family-sibling. Students traveling from Takamatsu to St. Pete in early August will likewise live with the family of the student they host. The students will spend nearly two weeks together in Japan and nearly ten days together in St. Pete.
St. Pete’s student ambassadors will have official business in Takamatsu, each making a presentation about St. Pete to Takamatsu Mayor Hideto nishi and City Council. The students will visit temples and other important sites, and learn about Japanese culture and family life. Japanese students will likewise deliver presentations to St. Pete Mayor Kenneth T. Welch, St. Pete City Council, and St. Pete Chamber of Commerce during their stay. They will visit St. Pete’s museums, cultural institutions, and explore the differences and similarities between the two cultures.
In 1961, St. Petersburg and Takamatsu were among the first pairs of cities in Florida and Japan to form a Sister City relationship. Eckerd College has been sending graduates to teach there since 1966; Takamatsu began sending municipal staff to shadow counterparts in St. Pete in the 1970s. Numerous citizen delegations, sometimes numbering over 50, have also traveled to St. Pete. Similarly, multiple local businesses, youth delegations, softball teams, groups, and individuals have visited Takamatsu. Sending rising high school seniors to Takamatsu has been a popular, long-running program – all high school juniors who live in St. Petersburg are eligible to apply.
