Monday’s welcoming ceremony for the delegation of high school students from Yokohama Suiran High School in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan focused not only on the students who had recently arrived, but also the importance of student experiences abroad and cross-cultural exchanges.

Among the reasons for this emphasis on international experience were the attendance of two special guests, Maryland Secretary of State John C. Wobensmith and Director of International Affairs Anna Yankova. Both spoke at the event, along with Principal Mr. Reginald McNeill.

“It is very clear that the exposure to foreign cultures, societies, and values will equip you with the knowledge, skills, and experience that are needed to be able to work in a globalized world,” said Wobensmith at the ceremony, which featured both the Japanese and American national anthems, and a performance by the Japanese exchange students. “Thus, I urge the students here today to take advantage of these programs,” Wobensmith said.

On a similar note, principal Mr. Reginald McNeill said, “As you start out, learning about the world, and learning what you really want to do, make sure you travel so that you can get a chance to see what is it, how the rest of the world lives, and where you fit in the world.”

Yankova also spoke of the great benefits of cultural exchanges, such as with the long-standing relationship of ERHS with Yokohama Suiran High School. “This educational exchange that you have between your school and Yokohama Suiran is a great example of the educational exchange that the program promotes,” said Yankova. She later continued, “As the Secretary of State mentioned, the educational exchange helps students to broaden their horizons, learn about each other’s cultures traditions, and build friendships,” also mentioning it’s importance in globalization, strengthening diplomatic ties and creating peace.

“The world is becoming more globalized,” Ms. Anna Yankova said in a private interview after the ceremony. “So if you learn different unique languages… you can communicate [with people of] that background in their own language, and be closer to them, understand the culture better, build the ties, and when you understand each other’s cultures… it will help you to avoid conflicts.”

“If you speak the language and understand the culture, it makes it so much easier to do business and to interact with people,” said Wobensmith. “There’s no question about it.”

Considering that international affairs is a task constitutionally delegated to the federal government, the job of Maryland Director of International Affairs might at first seem confusing. However, Yankova has a significant role in the office of Secretary of State, including coordinating Maryland’s Sister States Program.

Sister relationships, according to the website of the Maryland office of the secretary of state, officially link local governments, and are the only international partnership agreement to do so.

Among the goals of the international division, are also to “foster global awareness,” and to “increase the level and consistency of open dialogue and exchange between Maryland’s citizens and institutions and their international counterparts,” according to the website.

Maryland has a total of 15 sister state relationships, ranging from our own relationship with Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan, to relationships with Harju County, (Northern) Estonia; Anhui Province, China; Lodz, Poland; and Bong Co. & Maryland Co., Liberia, among others.

The ceremony was also marked by the details that make such cross-cultural experiences special, like the skit of the Japanese delegation, or Wobensmith’s story of one “brave” Japanese student.

Other such details, included when the members of the Japanese National Honors Society greeted the auditorium in Japanese, then continuing in English, and when one Japanese student spoke to the crowd in heavily-accented English, raising issues such as ethnic conflicts, and talking graciously about US-Japan relations.

Later on in the ceremony, the Japanese students acted out the story of an old man and his venture into a mouse hole, complete with an upbeat choreographed dance to Miley Cyrus’s song Hoedown Throwdown. The ERHS student body present at the ceremony clapped and whooped at the end of the performance.

Both Wobensmith and Yankova said that they enjoyed the performance. Yankova, who had also been to the recent ceremony for the arrival of the previous delegation of Japanese students from Yokohama Suiran High School, said that she found Monday’s performance “very entertaining.”

In his speech, Wobensmith spoke of “one brave young man” from a different group of Japanese students, who recently delivered a face to face memorized speech to Wobensmith at his office in Annapolis, about the student’s desire for further Japan-Maryland diplomacy. Consistent with the atmosphere of the ceremony, Wobensmith spoke of his wish for Roosevelt HS’s students “to develop a similar commitment to promoting mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation,” to the Japanese student.

Off stage, Wobensmith and Yankova explained the expansion plans of Maryland’s cultural exchanges, which go beyond just educational ones such as ERHS’s.

“The state of Maryland is proud of it’s sister state relationship with different countries, and we look forward to expanding the program,” such as with the addition of the business component, and the further development of the educational, medical, arts, and culture aspects, explained Yankova.

With these business exchanges, Wobensmith explained that the hope is to attract more foreign companies to Maryland, and to have mutual economic benefits for the countries involved in the exchanges.

Future plans on the medical side include partnering with Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical Center in shock trauma to build up exchanges with countries, such as Nigeria, interested in medical exchanges, according to Yankova. Currently, we already have two sister states with Nigeria.

There are also plans for expansion on the arts and culture side, including a plan to partner with a museum in Leningrad, Russia. The exchange, Yankova explained, would involve hosting Russian museum experts here in Maryland, and sending museum experts from Maryland to Russia.

Photographs by Julian Hall