Cedartown HS students return from their recent trip to Japan
A group of Cedartown High School students are back from a trip across the globe to lend a voice to small town America in an international competition.
This year the Bulldogs sent Gabriel Foster, Hayden Zebeau and Cam Lorys to Japan for the 2018 Parliamentary Debate World Congress, which brings together students from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia in deep discussion in and out of competition.
Cedartown’s trio of debate participants spent months working with Jennifer Cupp, Heather Rogers and Angela Ritchie to get ready for the event in Saitama Prefecture Japan.
The annual debate world congress is organized by the Waku Pro Foundation, started by Kazuko Nakadai, and Cedartown students have been able to take part thanks to the efforts of Kimoto Tech and the Kimoto family for getting students into the event.
Students from Cedartown and 18 dif- ferent countries around the globe took up the topic of “Friendship Future: Bringing Dreams, Hope, and Courage” during the event, and also got a chance to see a variety of Japan’s sights while away from school for the debate event.
“We can say with absolute certainty that our team arrived back home with these qualities in our hearts and minds, instilled in us by the people that we met and by the experiences that we had,” Cupp said.
Debate really took a back seat for the students during the eight day trip overseas, with the trio of students and teachers are treated to a day of traditional Japanese culture, a ski trip to Niigata Prefecture, and a tour of downtown Tokyo in the Shibuya and Hara Juku districts.
The once in a lifetime opportunity was extended twice to one at least student, Nathan James Garner, who has had the honor to attend event twice.
Garner was a member of the 2017 team, and was voted Future Peace Ambassador. He returned this year as a volunteer ambassador.