友情の庭 Yujo no Niwa, or friendship garden, at Great Fall Elementary School in Virginia

One of CEPEX’s founders, Yukio Tada, was in Washington, DC for business last week. Even given his hectic schedule, he was able to meet with Great Falls Elementary PTA members for lunch. Great Falls Elementary is fortunate to be part of Fairfax County Public School’s Partial Language Immersion Program for Japanese.  Approximately 25% of its students in grades 1-6 participate in the program daily.

At the get together Mr. Tada was presented with a letter from Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Dale, personally thanking him for the work being done by CEPEX and other like-minded organizations on the Japanese immersion program over the last 20 years.

The parents of students with which Mr. Tada met also left a message:

“We hope you enjoyed reuniting with the parents of the multiple “generations” of students who have benefited and will continue to benefit from the Japanese Immersion Program that you helped launch 20 years ago.  It is amazing to see the progress that has been made through the letters and photographs you gave us, and both the County and parents appreciate all that you and your colleagues have done to support the program’s many successes.  It was a pleasure to meet and gain a better understanding of the programs at George Mason and Georgetown Universities and we look forward to future collaboration with our own Great Falls community.

Here’s to international grassroots power!