After 20 years of taking choir students back and forth to
Gilroy’s sister city in Japan, high school Choral Director Phil
Robb hopes to grow the program by leaps and bounds.
After 20 years of taking choir students back and forth to Gilroy’s sister city in Japan, high school Choral Director Phil Robb hopes to grow the program by leaps and bounds.
Of Gilroy’s six sister cities, Takko-Machi, Japan, is the most active, sending groups of junior high and high school students to Gilroy every year. Although Robb has taken his chamber singers to the Japanese Garlic Capital a handful of times, he’d like to see the voyage turn into an annual tradition for Gilroy’s high school students.
Besides, Robb plans to retire within the next few years and he and his wife, Pam, who has played an integral role in organizing past trips, hope to see the sister city exchange program flourish even after Robb steps down.
“We felt that the relationship with Takko had been developed so nicely, we wanted it to continue,” said Pam Robb, who first suggested the idea of an overseas trip to her husband when she read about Gilroy and Takko-Machi’s fledgling sister city relationship. After 20 years of helping to organize the trip for her husband and his students, Pam Robb finally made the journey herself in 2008.
“I had seen so many pictures and heard so many stories that I felt like I had been there,” she said. “It was exactly how I imagined it.”
With the help of Patrick Foley, Gilroyan and coordinator for international relations in Takko-Machi, the Robbs organized the Gilroy-Takko Student Exchange Program.
This summer marks the program’s inaugural trip. Five sophomores and juniors from Gilroy High School signed up and are currently learning the ways of Japanese culture by attending cultural classes hosted by the Robbs. Traditionally, exchange students from Gilroy and Takko-Machi stay with host families when traveling abroad, and this year’s group of students is looking forward to the experience.
Laura Doughty, 16, a junior at GHS who sings in Robb’s Concerto Choir, recently learned that she’ll be living for a week under a roof with three generations of family members, including the former mayor of Takko-Machi. The lessons she has received in the Japanese language, customs, food and etiquette will help lessen the culture shock, she said.
“I don’t want to mess anything up,” she said. “The pressure is on but their culture seems like a really forgiving one.”
After hearing tales of Robb’s visits, this year’s exchange students are counting down the weeks until they depart. Armed with pocket dictionaries, they’re nervous but excited.
“They have different shoes for everything,” Doughty giggled.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the school there and meeting the students,” said sophomore Roya Lillie, 15. “Supposedly, high five-ing is the thing to do.”
The students will spend the majority of the trip in Takko-Machi, a small farming community in the hills, with the two last days in Tokyo.
Although Doughty has never tried sushi and will warily try the sister city’s staple meal for the first time, Lillie said she was excited to sample the country’s cuisine.
Intrigued by a country that “seems so closed off,” the students – all girls this year – are looking forward to bringing stories back to their fellow students, they said. Being an ambassador is actually one of the program’s requirements, Pam Robb pointed out.
The program is only open to 10th and 11th graders because, “we didn’t want to bring anyone too young and we also wanted kids who, when they come back from Takko, don’t just say ‘thanks for the trip and the memories,’ but act as ambassadors for the program,” Pam Robb said.
Mostly, Phil and Pam Robb don’t want to see the exchange of students and cultures die out after Phil retires. The program aims to take five to 10 students every year for a week during the summer.
The trip costs about $1,700, and this year’s students have been asked to pay half the price, Pam Robb said. So far, the community has come up with all but about $1,600 of the difference. The community has always generously pitched in, she said.
“The whole ideas is to make this a community thing so eventually Pam and I can step away,” Phil Robb said. “We very much believe in what we are doing, but it’s a community effort.”
With two decades of traveling back and forth to Takko-Machi under his belt, Phil Robb is preparing himself and his students for the upcoming trip that marks a long and rich tradition of cultural exchange. Robb laughed when remembering the stilted conversation he exchanged with his host family over hearty dinners.
“It is awkward,” he laughed. “They don’t speak English and I don’t speak Japanese so we do a lot of charades and laughing and drawing pictures. But we make it work.”
How to help send kids to Takko
To donate, visit the Gilroy-Takko Student Exchange Program’s Facebook page and click “Donate.” Checks made payable to the Gilroy-Takko Student Exchange Program can also be sent to Gilroy High School, Attention: Phil Robb, 750 W. 10th St., Gilroy, CA, 95020.
