Sister Cities

Idaho Falls Sister City Youth Approved Meeting Minutes This meeting was conducted using the platform Zoom May 5, 2021 Jorge Padron Gabe Padron Nathan Peck Kendra Peck McKenzie McIsaac Eden McIsaac Laura Combs Charlotte Combs Anna St. Michel Whitney St. Michel Sam Hawker Jennifer Thompson David Eaton Katie Eaton Approval of Meeting Minutes A motion by Jennifer Thompson was made to approve the April 19, 2021 meeting minutes. Motion was seconded by David Eaton. The minutes were passed. Reminder The next Zoom meeting is scheduled for May 17, at 7:00. Please put this on your calendar. A reminder email notice will be sent out before the meeting. Upcoming meetings to put on your calendar are May 17th, June 2nd and 14th, July 7th and July 19th if needed, August 4th and 16th, September 1st and 13th, October 6th and 18th, November 3rd and 15th, and December 1st and 13th. Treasurer’s Report As of April 30, 2021 the balance in checking $16,620.84, money market $3295.24, and savings $25.05. The treasurer’s report link is at the end of the meeting minutes. Lori Kidwell stated that she will go to the bank tomorrow to complete the paperwork to have an automatic withdrawal to pay for the website domain. This was agreed to by the group at the April 7th meeting. Student Exchange The IFSCY Board had a Special Board Meeting on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 to discuss the requirements or criteria for students going to Japan in 2022. The criteria agreed upon for students going to Japan in 2022 can be found at the end of these notes. . Friendship Garden Cleanup Thanks to all of you who showed up for the cleanup at the Friendship Garden. Your time was greatly appreciated. IFSCY 40th Anniversary Celebration July 16, 2021 is the date that will be proposed to Tokai-Mura Adult and Youth Sister Cities Organizations. The location of the celebration will be determined at a later date. The proposed time for the celebration is one and one half hours. It was suggested that the Mayors from each city give a speech as well as the presidents from both the Adult and Youth Sister Cities group. Kendra Peck asked for ideas for gifts to give to each student participating in the celebration. . Several suggestions were made such as wooden tokens or magnets. A design needs to be created to have printed on the gifts. This will be discussed at the next meeting. Idaho Falls Sister City Youth will need to gather photos or videos to create a slideshow for the 40th Anniversary Celebration. The topic of the photos should fall into one of three categories: Folder 1: Folder 2: Folder 3: Daily Life or Favorite Spots or Festivals, Day to Day Activities, Idaho Sightseeing Destinations Holidays, or Culture. Daily Life LInk Sightseeing link Cultural/Holiday Link -take pictures of -some of the common things -Sightseeing spots, -waking up you spend your time doing -show places we -getting ready for school, -special events you have. visitCraters of the moon, -what's in your backpack EBR 1 museum, -what’s for lunch Lagoon, up in the mountains, Twin falls, mesa falls, Previous exchange visits Please upload pictures on the appropriate folder on google photo site by May 17th. Kendra will create three folders: Daily Living, Sites and Culture to drop your photos in. On May 17th the group will assess what we have and will determine the next step. Carter Thompson, Anna St. Michel, Sam Hawker, and Gabe Padron volunteered to be part of the 40th Anniversary Celebration. The finished product will need to be sent to Tokai mura by July 1, 2021 in order for the presentation to be translated. Participation in the 4th of July Parade Registration for groups or organizations to participate in the 4th of July parade needs to be turned in beginning April 1 through May. The Chamber of Commerce charges a fee of $100.00. The Chamber of Commerce will not waive the fee. David Eaton will call the Adult Sister City group if they would participate with the Youth group to pay the registration fee as well as help with a float. This topic will be discussed at the meeting on May 17, 2021. Discussion of City Ordinance Several people from the IFSCY met with the Adult Sister City group on May 3, 2021 to discuss and vote on the hybrid approach for Sister Cities groups. It was voted on and passed. Sister City Draft Ordinance Field Trip Jackie Sugai would like to help out with the field trip to Minidoka Internment Camp. She was not able to attend tonight’s meeting but will be at the May 17th meeting. She will get more information on tours. We will discuss this at the next meeting. Volunteering at the Happyville Farm Whitney and Anna St. Michel will talk with the master gardener at the Happyville Farm. The farm will be needing volunteers when seeds can get planted. Whitney will have more information on dates and times for our group to help out at the Happyville Farm by the next meeting. Student Activities Current Events in Japan Jennifer Thompson shared Carter’s presentation on “Latest Japanese News”. To view this video please click on the link below. Latest Japanese News Student Presentation Anna St. Michel presented on “Misconceptions about Japan” To view this video please click on the link below. Misconceptions about Japan Fundraisers Fundraiser at the Skyline Bowling alley will be discussed at one of the summer meetings. After the 40th Anniversary Celebration. Topics to be Discussed at the 5/17/21 Meeting Discussion on the 40th Anniversary Celebration, Need to assess what we have and determine the next steps, design for gifts, participation in the 4th of July, Happyville Farm, online activities with Tokai mura students, create a list of interests for future activities (interests) for IFSCY meetings, field trip to Minidoka, Happyville Farm, recruiting. Each student who has gone to Japan is asked to prepare a quick presentation of their experience with pictures and to present to those who haven't gone. Motion to Adjourn Jorge Padron motioned to adjourn the meeting. It was seconded by Anna St. Michel.. Treasurer's Report IFSCY 2021 Bylaw Addendum Addressing 2022 Exchange Participation as a Result of Pandemic The following changes to the IFSCY delegation Bylaws were made to address student participation in the 2022 Student Exchange visit to Tokai-mura. These changes expire upon completion of the trip. Student eligibility for participating in the next exchange visit to Tokai-mura. Fifteen students were invited in January 2020 to go to Tokai-mura in July 2020. However, the Covid-19 Pandemic resulted in the trip being postponed at least one-year. One of the rules for students to participate in an exchange is for them to remain in good standing. That typically means attending at least 50% of meetings and events. However, the Covid-19 situation threw everything into disarray. After the March 4, 2020 meeting, all meetings went virtual. Not everyone had access. The switch was rather chaotic. This was the first time that a trip was cancelled for any of the members of the group. Nobody knew what the right answers were. Therefore, the following rule was put into place to provide direction and understanding of who would still be eligible and who would receive any new invitations for open spots. Normal Eligibility Criteria: The basic qualification criteria for being able to participate in the next exchange visit to Tokai-mura remain unchanged. All students must have completed the student application and code of conduct forms as well as paid applicable feed for 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 and they must have participated in the 2019 Exchange Visit of the students from Tokai-mura. Normally they would have to have attended 50% of the meetings from the last exchange until now. As a result of the Covid-19 disruption of normal activities, that requirement was modified as follows: Modification 1. To be eligible to participate in the 2022 exchange, students must have participated in at least 50% of the meetings held between January 1, 2020 and March 8, 2020 when all in-person meetings were cancelled and November 1, 2020 and March 3, 2022 prior to which students were informed that the 50% criteria was being enforced again. Students were allowed to substitute attendance at special events such as Zoom calls with the Tokai-mura students for a missed meeting. Students who had jobs that interfered with their attendance were allowed to substitute meetings that they had attended during the summer session to meet the criteria. March 2022 was chosen as the date, as that was anticipated to be the approximate date that a decision on whether an exchange was likely this year or not. Due to the uncertainty of the current situation, it is anticipated that there may be openings for alternates to take the place of another student that is unable to participate in the next exchange. The following modification is put in place to identify the appropriate candidate. Modification 2. Invitations to participate in the 2022 exchange are contingent upon meeting the basic criteria as stated above. Invitations will be offered after March 3 on the same basis as the original invitations for the eligible students that meet the criteria in Modification 1. That criteria is based upon the total number of priority points accumulated by the student and their parent since September 1, 2018.