Yasuo “Zorro” MIYAZAWA
July 27, 1949-March 23, 2022 (Aged (72)
Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan
The relationship between Marianas High School and SEISA Group is one enduring partnership that has withstood the test of time.
The Annual Cultural Exchange Program with Seisa High School in Japan started with friends, the late Bert Thompson, a former Marianas High School teacher, and founder of SEISA High School, Yasuo Miyazawa, the founder of SEISA Group.
And for Miyazawa, this is an enduring legacy he built with the people of the Northern Mariana Islands, through the exchange program he established with his SEISA Group.
This partnership was built upon the Participate and Learn (PAL) cultural and sports exchange program between Miyazawa Gakuen’s Seisa School and Marianas High School.
It began 1984 years ago when Miyazawa himself first came to Saipan to lead an education study group. A group of junior and high school students belonging to the “education investigative group” was on Saipan to explore international linkages and partnership. The CNMI was one of the 15 states/jurisdictions Miyazawa chose to visit.
Since then, the SEISA Group has been bringing Seisa High School students from Japan to Saipan to learn, explore and foster relationships with the three principles of understanding each other, leaving nobody out and making friends.
As its biggest partner, Marianas High School to this date has integrated in its school program and activities the core values and goals of the exchange program.
In 1993, then-student Melanie Sablan was elected representative to join then-Principal Doris Thompson and Vice Principal Frances Sablan, and the late Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela, to go to Japan. They signed a sister school agreement.
The agreement was between Marianas High School and Miyazawa High School.
Every year since 1993, about 200 students from Miyazawa High School visit Saipan. For five days, they are attending classes at MHS, immersing themselves with the school culture.
During the early years of the cultural exchange program, Japanese students join their MHS counterparts for a homestay program with selected homestay families.
Likewise, students from MHS visit Japan to learn about Japanese culture.
There was a brief hiatus from the program during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
To this date, MHS estimates there have been about seven thousand Japanese students who have joined the cultural exchange program.
(UTS)
