Sister City students enjoy Moses Lake
Sister City Exchange students visit the Wild Horse Wind Farm. From left, Kieran Kenison, Madison Herrin, Hinata Kokubun, Ryota Saito, Vlad Mazhnikov and Tomoka Takahashi.
MOSES LAKE - It was hard to tell what Yonezawa students Hinata Kokubun, Tomoka Takahashi and Ryota Saito were more excited about Thursday night - the Moses Lake Roundup Rodeo or the carnival rides and games at the Grant County Fair.
The three students, who were visiting Moses Lake last week as participants in the annual Sister City Exchange Program, spent the night going back and forth between the fair and the rodeo, chaperone Krystin Moore said.
"They were here watching the rodeo for a bit then went off to do the fair," she said, as she watched their seats. "But I know they're coming back to see the dirt bikes."
Sure enough, the three came back to their seats just in time to catch the dirt bike stunts. They took a quick second to gather for a picture with their Moses Lake counterparts - students Vlad Mazhnikov, Kieran Kenison and Madison Herrin - before all six of them jetted back to the carnival.
"They just want to do it all," Moore said.
The three students arrived from Japan last Monday. They toured the city, visited the fair and rodeo and even took a trip up to the Grand Coulee Dam before heading back to Yonezawa Sunday.
Moore said it was the first time any of them had visited the United States. She said Vlad, Kieran and Madison had a blast introducing them to life in Moses Lake.
"They're just returning the favor," Moore said. "They learned what life was like when they went to Japan and now they get to show what life is like in America."
Moore said sharing cultures is what the Sister City Exchange Program is all about. Moore went on an exchange trip herself in 2002.
"As a student from Moses Lake, you go to Yonezawa and stay with a host family and spend time with students there," she said. "Then they come here and spend time with you."
The Sister City Exchange Program sent its first group of students from Moses Lake to Yonezawa in 1982. Since then, more than 300 students from both Moses Lake and Yonezawa have participated in the exchange.
The exchange students, and the Sister City committee, raise funds throughout the year to help pay for the annual trips. One of their main fundraisers this year was a live auction held in June.
As a former exchange student and now a chaperone, Moore said she has seen firsthand how beneficial the program is.
"Students just get to learn more about their sister city," she said. "It's an important program to keep going for our city's history and to help continue what the founders of the program wanted to accomplish."