Japan Exchange Program's 40th Anniversary

In 1971, St. Stephen’s Dean of Students Dean Towner, Headmaster Allen Becker, and St. Andrew’s Headmaster Reverend Andrew Fujikura envisioned an exchange of students to foster “peace based on international friendships and education on democracy.”

In 1973, the entire St. Stephen’s faculty nominated a boy from the freshman class to represent the school abroad, and in September of that year, Nicholas Palter ‘76 arrived in Osaka as St. Andrew’s students Yoshinori Yokoyama and Tsugunori Yasuda arrived in Austin, marking the first-ever exchange between the schools.

Since that time the program, in which St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Jackson, Mississippi also participates, has flourished as the schools continue their mutual commitment to engendering global citizenship.

To commemorate 40 years of partnership, Sarah Todd, Director of the International Program at St. Stephen’s, and Mason Cox, a history teacher who works with the International Program,  traveled to Osaka, Japan, in March 2012 for a ceremony at St. Andrew’s in honor of the exchange program.

The anniversary of the schools’ partnership highlights their dedication to cultivating a sense of international community and demonstrates the importance of mutual cultural and educational understanding. In celebrating the Japan Scholars Exchange anniversary, St. Stephen’s aims to build on the successes of the last 40 years to continue promoting global exchange on campus and worldwide.