Dakota Collegiate

Dakota Collegiate has been working with its Japanese sister school, Meitoku Gijuku High School, since 1991. In that time, hundreds of Japanese and Canadian students have had the opportunity to immerse themselves in a distant culture and language. More than 400 Dakota Collegiate students have visited Meitoku—most for a period of two weeks and some for as long as nine months. A number of these students have returned to Japan to work in JET programs or with private companies, and many have taken programs and courses at university to learn more about Asia.

The Japanese students who attend Dakota Collegiate generally visit for one year, arriving in February and often staying with the families of Dakota students. Our host families speak very highly of sharing their home with a young person from a different culture, and have been known to take students in for several years. The Japanese students arrive with limited English skills, and often know little of western customs. In the course of the year-long stay, however, both the family and the student learn much about one another. The friendships that develop in the home and at school are friendships that last beyond the memory of the year abroad. In April 2006, 61 Dakota band students visited Japan for two weeks, and participated in the Sixth International Joint Concert with Meitoku along with groups from Australia and Korea. Plans are already underway for a similar venture in 2009.

In addition to these short-term visits to Meitoku Gijuku, Dakota students are also eligible to apply for longer stays after graduation to study Japanese culture and language in depth. The Dakota Meitoku Exchange Program has touched a number of young people in various ways over the years and continues to be an important initiative in the Louis Riel School Division.