Columbia Student Delegates Need Your Support

We have six Columbia, Missouri high school students chosen to represent our city during a delegate visit to our sister city, Hakusan, Japan. The experience will occur in June. Students will spend two weeks attending school, government events, and cultural experiences alongside students from the area. While Hakusan City covers most of the costs while the students are there, the travel costs are steep. We are raising funds to help our six delegates participate so that family financial concerns do not become a barrier. All money raised goes directly to supporting these student delegates. The trip includes no staff stipends of any kind so 100% of your donation goes to supporting the students. Below is the history of the City of Columbia/Hakusan relationship.

Columbia Mayor Mary Anne McCollum signed the sister city agreement between Columbia and Matto City on March 7, 1988. In 1993, Mayor Kumeo Hosokawa of Matto City, Japan donated funds to establish a cherry blossom grove in Columbia Cosmopolitan Recreation Area. In 2005, Matto City merged with several towns and villages to form the city of Hakusan.

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Between 1990-2008, nearly 500 middle and junior high school students participated in exchange programs between Columbia and Hakusan. On May 16, 2011, Mayor Bob McDavid and past exchange students rededicated the cherry grove and planted a tree in remembrance of the Honorable Mitsuo Kado, who served as Hakusan mayor from Nov. 30, 1998, until his death Oct. 24, 2010. The cherry grove continues to symbolize the enduring friendship between Columbia and Hakusan.

The City of Columbia sent a delegation of city leaders, citizens, and educators to Hakusan to rekindle the relationship in October 2019. During that time, Columbia Public Schools Superintendent, Peter Stiepleman, Columbia Public Schools Board member, Jonathan Sessions, and Columbia Public Schools Science Coordinator, Mike Szydlowski worked with leaders from both cities to rekindle the exchange program with Columbia delegation of students set to travel to Hakusan during the Summer of 2020. Our delegates would spend a week with students at the International College of Technology and a week with city leaders exploring STEM-related problems, solutions, and opportunities in their city. Students would bring back what they learned to present to city leaders, community members, and students in Columbia.

Unfortunately, prior to our trip, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and paused plans for several years. The Cities of Columbia and Hakusan are now eager to restart the great partnership with our two cities. The first new student delegation trip occurred last summer and was very successful. The next delegation will occur approximately June 8-20, 2025. A committee of community members will select six students who are currently in grades 9-12 to serve as a 2025 delegate.

Students will spend two weeks in the Hakusan region. Delegates will go to school with students at the International College of Technology (ICT) in the morning and then work as a delegation on an innovative product or solution centered around the United Nations Sustainability Goals in the afternoon. This will occur every other weekday. On the alternating days, students will explore the culture and natural areas in and around Hakusan. Students will stay in the ICT dorms.