On Friday, September 15, Great Falls was honored to host the Japanese Women Leaders Delegation. The delegation, made up of political and business leaders from Japan, visited the United States to explore US-Japan relations and women’s empowerment. 

The delegation was curious to learn more about our immersion program and how our teachers integrate STEAM within the classroom. Kennington Sensei led the group on a tour of GFES, stopping in to visit Monheim Sensei’s 2nd graders, Rinehart Sensei’s 6th graders and her own 5th graders. The delegation had the opportunity to observe lessons and speak to our students as they worked on coding projects and creating digital posters to show what they’ve learned about Astronomy. They were also impressed with the songs our 2nd graders performed in Japanese. We are so grateful they took time out of their visit to the US to come and visit our program!

The guest list for the visit included:

 Hon. Kiyomi Tsujimoto, Member, House of Councillors, Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ)

Hon. Takae Ito, Member, House of Councillors, Democratic Party for the People (DPFP)
Hon. Aiko Shimajiri, Member, House of Representatives, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
Ms. Kyoko Okutani, Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC; Executive Network Member, J-Win
Ms. Aya Tsumura, Executive Officer, SMBC Trust Bank, Ltd.; Executive Network Member, J-Win

Staff from the Japan Center for International Exchange:

Ms. Kazuyo Kato, Executive Director (USA)

Ms. Hifumi Tajima, Chief Program Officer (Japan)

Ms. Kim Gould Ashizawa, Senior Advisor (USA)

Ms. Hayley Hutchison, Program Officer (USA)