Shawnee Mission CIS, PTSA

• Purpose / Mission: To provide expanded educational experiences through the use of international languages, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese to develop skills and knowledge to successfully work in an international environment. High school students in Shawnee Mission School District(KS) gather at Shawnee Mission South High School to take the specially designed course.
• Year Established: 1991
• Meetings:
• Main Activities: Each language department has its own activities. Cultural presentation, language contest, trip to countries where the language is spoken, and others, as well as studying language, culture, and historical background in class.
• Main Contact: Kumiko Derigne
• Event News:

Thanks to the hard work of many volunteers and the sponsorship of several organizations, the Japanese Language Contest was a great success. With the addition of new events and a new prize structure, the contest was rewarding for students of Japanese both locally and in the Mid West region.

For those who are not familiar with it, the Japanese Language Contest is held every spring with competitive events in different aspects of Japanese Language and Culture. In general, the contest is geared toward high school and college students, but this year it was also opened to “independent study” students. This was the seventh year that the contest has been held. CIS and Olathe take turns in hosting the contest and this year CIS did the honors.

The contest was held March 5, 2005, but technically it started much earlier. That is because this year, new “mail-in” events were added that allowed students from a wide geographic area to enter. Judging for one of the “mail-in” events, the essay contest, took place a week earlier while the other event, the Japanese-style calligraphy, was judged at the contest itself.

On the day of the event, things got started with the Taiko drum performance by students from the Olathe High Schools. Ms. Mariko Sasaki from the Consulate General Office of Chicago and Dr. Gene Johnson from the Shawnee Mission School District presented opening remarks. The main events were the always-popular core contests. These included the Kana Bee, the Beginners and Intermediate Kanji Bee, the skits, and the poetry reading. Several martial arts groups presented demonstrations while the judges tallied the results.

This year we had 102 registrations. These came from 11 high schools, three colleges, and some self-study students. The participants came from Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, Illinois, and Iowa. Most of the out-of-town students entered the mail-in events, but some came to the March 5 contest from as far away as Wichita Kansas, which is a 3-hour drive.

The contest could not have been put on without the generous support of our sponsors. This year CIS was lucky to have the backing of several organizations and individuals:

	Consulate General of Japan at Chicago, 
	The Heartland JET Alumni Association, 
	The Heart of America-Japan America Society,
	 Sister City Association of Kansas City Missouri-Kurashiki Committee,
	 Mr. Francis Lemery,
	 Ms. Carole Owsley, 
	 K.U. Center for East Asian Studies,
	Johnson County Community College