Director’s Report:
On August 23-24, I was invited by Dokuritsu Gakuen High School in Oguni-machi, Yamagata Prefecture, to help the faculty and staff learn about “visioning” (setting a vision of the school). ARI Participants visit the high school every year during ARI’s Rural Community Study Tour in Yamagata Prefecture, but this was the first time I had the opportunity to listen to the thoughts, wishes, dreams, and hopes of every member of the faculty and staff. I am grateful that I was able to touch even for a moment, the strength and depth of the foundation and spirit that has built Dokuritsu Gakuen High School (like the “corner pillar stone” placed at the entrance to the school) and the pure hearts of the faculty and staff who are working to realize it (like a river flowing through nature by the school)! (Photo: “The truth shall make you free,” John 8:32, written by a former staff member of the school that was displayed in the entrance hall.)