Morris High School students travel to Tokyo, Fukushima on STEM trip

Four Morris Community High School students traveled to Japan this summer on a trip organized by Carolyne Joseph with Constellation Energy and new science teacher Belinda Baxta.

Students Sophie Sanders, Olyve Havens, Caitlin Gile and Skyler Saelens got to experience a different culture. They visited the cleanup site at Fukushima, where much of the area still was in its original state from the March 2011 tsunami.

They said they saw the remaining buildings that the tsunami hit and watched workers decommissioning Unit 1. The workers were all in hazmat suits and covered up to protect themselves from the radiation.

“It was really different from America,” Sanders said. “We saw many different things, and it was an opportunity no one else gets. Their culture is very different, and it was like 97 degrees out and people were still wearing long skirts and dresses and long sleeves. Everyone carried umbrellas to not get sunburned.”

Sanders said most of the restaurants they ate at served noodles or sushi, and she was surprised at how many people spoke English.

Saelens said she noticed how clean Tokyo was despite there not being garbage cans everywhere. Instead, people would carry their trash with them and throw it away at home.

“Everyone was super nice,” Saelens said. “If you needed help, someone would come and help you.”

She said one shock was visiting stores in Japan because they didn’t have cameras around every turn, and it seemed like everyone was more trusting and polite.

Gile said there were about 45 to 50 students attending their conference, and there were many mentors who traveled there from all over the world. There, the students split into groups.

“We listened to speakers [and] different mentors talk about their life experiences and what their jobs were,” Gile said. “We did group discussions with a mentor and [talked] about plans for the future and our lives, and [asked] them questions about their lives. It was nice.”

Baxta got to be on a panel with several of the Japanese instructors and other professionals, and they had many questions about how schools in the U.S. get girls interested in STEM programs.

“One of the things that I thought was so wonderful was we got to see the first factory that was built back in the Fukushima area to bring commerce and people back to the area,” Baxta said. “They’re scared to go back. There’s no radiation there anymore, but they’re still scared. Some of the girls they were with were displaced as toddlers, so they were bringing students back to show them what they’re doing to the area so they know it’s safe to go back.”

Joseph said she is working with the program organizers to have students travel to Japan and other locations again with more structure and lessons in the future.