Japanese and American Cultures Mesh at Villa Duchesne This Week

On Tuesday, 16 teenagers from the Villa Duchesne's sister school in Susono, Japan visited the students in Frontenac. Student ambassadors from Villa acted as hosts along with officials from the school. The official name of their school is Fuji Seishin Joshi Gakuin (Fuji Sacred Heart School).

Arrangements for the visit were made by Therese Hagemeister, the newly named director of Enrollment Management and her assistant Kathy Meyer.

The students are staying at the Sacred Heart Academy in St. Charles. They will be here for a two-week visit. They will see Missouri sites including Cahokia Mounds, the city of Hannibal and Mark Twain's Boyhood Home and Museum, the St. Louis Arch and a Cardinals’ baseball game.

On Tuesday, they ate pizza with their American counterparts. The Villa ambassadors took the 16 teens on a tour of the school to see the shiny, new, renovated gymnasium, the beautiful soccer fields, the historic chapel and other showplaces on campus.

The Japanese students take English lessons in order to communicate better with their American counterparts.

“Some of these young ladies have been in the United States before, and some of them have sisters who have been here before,” said Carol Pfitzinger, shrine director of Philippine Duchesne at Sacred Heart in St. Charles.

“It is very important that the girls spend time visiting the school with their namesake,” said Junko Nishizawa, Susono teacher and director of the tour.

The sisters of Sacred Heart worldwide sponsor four sister schools in Japan. This particular one is at the base of Mount Fuji.

Three of the teens were being hosted at one table by junior-to-be Cara Scozzafaza, a school ambassador.

Shitho Makino, Ayako Kiyota and Sari Yoshiea talked about their interest in American fashion, movies and food.

Yoshiea likes actress Blake Lively of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Kiyota prefers actress-songwriter Katy Perry while Makino is a Lady Gaga fan.

All in all, the brief visit was refreshing. Two very different cultures got to mesh together for a brief moment. Giggling teen girls know no geographic borders.