Sisters Journey Around the World
Principal Jennifer Sudekum took Sr. Madeline Marie and Mrs. Iseki on a tour of the school. Here they speak with teachers on the theology wing.
November 2, 2017
On Thursday, Oct. 12 two sisters from our sister school, St. Joseph Joshi Gakuen, flew into St. Louis to visit St. Joe. They were on a quest for new ideas for one of them to execute at their school in Japan, as she takes on the responsibility of the principal this coming year.
Sr. Madeline Marie and Mrs. Iseki arrived Thursday morning, Oct. 12, to tour the school, meet the students, and have lunch with some of our faculty members. The sisters said other than having to deal with the effects of jet lag, traveling to the United States was no big deal, as they are used to traveling to various countries pretty regularly.
Sr. Madeline Marie spoke English better between the two sisters so she did most of the talking. She explained that Mrs. Iseki was preparing to take on the role of principal at their school in Japan and she wanted to get ideas from St. Joe to help improve their school community.
They emphasized how much they loved that St. Joe celebrates birthdays here and thought they should really give that a try at St. Joseph Joshi Gakuen.
Sr. Madeline Marie said while they are here in St. Louis they would also be visiting a student from Japan staying at Fontbonne University and seeing Sister Kathleen Stack who lived over in Japan for 20 years. Sr. Madeline Marie talked about the possibility of maybe sending some students from St. Joseph Joshi Gakuen, here in the future.
Maddie Loe, a junior at St. Joe, traveled to Japan’s St. Joseph Joshi Gakuen, in the summer of 2016 and lived with a host family. Maddie explained that over in Japan, many of the students lived very far away from the school.
“My host sister and I had to take the train and then the bus to get there. Also, when we got to school, we had to take off our shoes and put on indoor shoes” said Maddie.
Sr. Madeline Marie and Mrs. Iseki left Saturday, Oct. 14 to travel back home to Japan.
They both thanked St. Joe for having such welcoming, positive, and happy vibes and said it gave them such great impressions.
