NWC hosts Winter English Camp

Sixteen seniors from Meiji Gakuin Higashimurayama High School in Tokyo are participating in a Winter English Camp at Northwestern College Jan. 11 through Feb. 2.

In addition to spending four hours a day learning English and studying American culture, the students spend one to two hours daily with a Northwestern student language tutor. They attend chapel and eat meals with the NWC student body. The eight female students from Japan are living with women in Hospers Hall. The eight male students are being hosted by area families.

The Japanese students will also visit an area high school church youth group and sightsee in Sioux Falls and Omaha.

This is the second year for the Winter English Camp, which was initiated by Norimichi Odate, who graduated from Northwestern in 1980 and teaches in Tokyo.

Odate was recruited to the college by the late Dr. Lyle Vander Werff, who taught religion at Northwestern and established sister-school relationships with a number of Asian colleges. Vander Werff’s daughters, Kathy Gabel and Kristyn Howe, both Orange City residents, serve as camp instructors. Orange City resident Kari Beadner, who served as a church planting missionary in Japan for three years, coordinates the camp and is also an instructor.