Teacher to Study in Japan
Art instructor will participate in the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Program
Excerpted from article by Marta Yamamoto, Contra Costa Times News Correspondent published 6/15/2007
In October, students at Aurora School, located off Broadway Terrace, will have to get along for three weeks without their art teacher, Kerry Higuera.
While they're busy with classes and homework, Higuera will be in Japan as a participant of the Japanese Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program.
The original Fulbright Scholarship Program was established by Congress in 1946, with the mission of encouraging educators to travel worldwide, increasing global understanding. In 1996, in appreciation of 50 years of Japanese students taking part in the Fulbright Scholarship Program, the Japanese government began to return the favor by funding a focus program that invites U.S. educators to go to Japan and build friendships with their counterparts.
This exchange of people seems a sure fit with Aurora's mission of global exchange and diversity. A hands-on experience in Japan also fits a dream of Kerry Higuera's.
"When I was in college, my undergraduate thesis and portfolio was all about Japanese ceramics and the tea ceremony," Higuera says. "I learned that the Japanese honor their artists as national treasures; I found this very intriguing."
Ms. Higuera approached the application to this program through her art, explaining how she was going to involve her students, the school and the whole greater community, bringing back what she learned about the Japanese educational system and culture.
The three-week program begins in Tokyo with lectures and discussions focused on education. The participants then move on to smaller villages where they stay with a host family and visit elementary and secondary schools, and teacher colleges, where they will carry on dialogues with parents, teachers and university professors.
Higuera has had many roles at Aurora School in the Oakland hills, heading the art program for 16 years, teaching in the K/1 program and serving as mentor to teachers and other specialists at the School.
While in Japan, she will set up a blog to communicate with her students on a regular basis. In addition, this year the school-wide Integrative Art Program will focus on the study of Japan, which is blended into all classroom disciplines.
It is clear the benefits of this honor are as exciting to Ms. Higuera as they are to the entire school. "I feel very honored to have been chosen," she said.
To view Ms. Higuera's blog, go to: http://eastmeetswestmeetseast.blogspot.com