Sister Cities

Idaho Falls Sister Cities Youth Board Meeting September 13, 2017 Attendees: Wendy Boring Peter Cebull Katie Eaton Melinda Cebull David Eaton Kendra Peck Student Exchange Selection Consideration: Background: Points are given for attending meetings, helping with hosting, helping with fundraisers and activities. Points are used to determine which students go to Japan and how much of the funds are allocated to each student. A spreadsheet with the points each student and parent has earned was provided to the group by email. Members were asked to review the spreadsheet to make sure points were correct. After the last meeting there were some questions about point allocations. Questions: Misty asked if her points for hosting could be split between her family and Vanessa’s family. Misty’s son Max was not able to help with hosting some days and Vanessa helped instead. The board decided it was fair to split the points between the two families. Teddy Matranga asked if her family’s points for hosting in 2013 and helping with hosting in 2015 would be considered for David. The board decided David would get the 10 points for not going in 2016 when he would have been eligible to go. Instead of going back and calculating the value of points from 2014 and 2016, the board will waive the hosting fees for the Matranga family in 2017. Future Considerations: Dave passed out the point sheets with the current point rankings to see where student are right now. Points for parents with more than one student were split equally between the students. Parents can let the board know if they would like the points split differently. For example if a younger student will not be going and they want their points given to the older student. The rankings could change based on how parents allocate points and how many additional points student and parents earn before January. The top students will be invited to go to Japan at the second meeting in January. If a student decides not to go, the next student on the list will be invited. Student Activities: The board discussed possible future student activities. The following activities were discussed:  Language Lessons – Possibly pay Junko to teach students Japanese once a week. Katie will contact her to see when she is available and what group size she would recommend.  ISU Japan Club – Set up a carpool to attend ISU Japan club meetings on Fridays.  Japanese Food – Have a meeting where we teach students to make sushi, okonomiyaki, or another Japanese dish.  Japanese Money – Teach the group how to use Japanese currency.  Taiko Lesson – Have students attend a Taiko drumming lesson  We want to find ways to make learning about Japan interesting for the students. Fundraisers: Dave asked about any upcoming fundraisers. Last fall we did the Paramount movie fundraiser and helped JACL with their bento box fundraiser.