Students connect with Eastern culture

By Melvin Coulter

Messmer High School hosts a variety of extra-curricular activities for its students varying from athletics to academics and everything in between.

An new and intriguing club for the 2008-2009 school year is the Japanese club created by Mr. Mark Ketterhagen. This is a club in which students are given the opportunity to learn about the different values and characteristics of the Japanese culture. “The clubs members become aware of a society foreign to ours,” said Ketterhagen.

Ketterhagen developed the idea for the club after spending over a year in Japan and becoming influenced by the society’s values. According to Ketterhagen, “Eastern culture is a near opposite to ours. Their society thinks together, collectively. They don't focus on individuality like we do.”

The Japanese club meets every other Tuesday after school to discus different objectives for the club and it’s members. Again this is the clubs first year being introduced to Messmer but probably not the last. Ketterhagen is optimistic about recruiting members. Flyers with different Japanese symbols and phrases are hanging throughout the building for recruitment tactics. Senior Melanie Estrada who was at the first meeting states, “the club is different, and that what makes me more interested in it.”

The next meeting is will be held on October 7th after school. Come enjoy some new language as well as some Japanese food, edamame!