Portsmouth High School is a school that emphasizes global education and diversity in its classes and extracurricular programming.

This past month, exchange students and teachers from both Nichinan, Japan and Santarcangelo, Italy, visited PHS as part of their yearly exchange programs.

The Japan trip is not language-based, but rather a cultural exchange. 

Laura Lavallee, who currently runs the PHS Japanese exchange program and is an English teacher at PHS, explained that the signing of the treaty that ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 took place in Portsmouth. Nichinan and Portsmouth are now sister cities in honor of this treaty.

In 2007, LaVallee and her husband moved to Okinawa, Japan, to begin his 4 years stationed at the Okinawa US military base. During these four years, LaVallee worked as an English teacher on base, making frequent trips outside of the base and around the country.

LaVallee moved back to America in 2011, where she became an English teacher at PHS. She quickly realized that the school had its own Japanese exchange program, which she took over by 2015.

Since then, there have been five trips to Japan, three of which LaVallee has been on. The Japanese students have also traveled to Portsmouth every year in October, apart from the travel restriction years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The deep bond between Nichinan, Japan, and Portsmouth is something that LaVallee wishes the members of Portsmouth knew more about because, after one does, it’s easy to see why the people of Nichinan hold Portsmouth in such high regard.

When asked what her favorite part of the program was, LaVallee had one clear answer: The connections.

LaVallee had many stories about the sharing of culture and how much it can mean to people, even though the students don’t all speak the same language.

One of the more inspirational stories was that of two American girls from PHS who ended up studying at four-year colleges in Japan after hosting a student for just four days.

With just four students on the trip during LaVallee’s first year, and over 24 now, it’s clear that the Japan program is essential to PHS.

Tanaka Kira was hosted by Samantha Hueber, a PHS senior, this past trip after Samantha had stayed in Japan last year. 

Kira said she was recommended to the program by an older friend who had come in a previous year and had been so moved by the experience.

Hueber has only traveled out of the country once before and repetitively expressed her satisfaction to have the connections she has made because of this opportunity. She hopes to return to Japan soon.

Of the five exchange programs at PHS, the Japan and Italy exchange program visits are just two weeks apart.

PHS senior Nate Delaney’s parents studied a year abroad in Italy during college. Since then, they have gone back multiple times, both as a family and individually.

This past month, the Delaney’s invited an Italian exchange student into their home for the first time after having gone on the trip himself last year. It was his first time hosting, but Delaney quickly realized that he had a lot more in common with his Italian exchange student than he had thought.

Both Delaney and his Italian exchange student are lifeguards. On the PHS shadow day, every single one of Nate’s classes was a note day, and they bonded over how monogamous their respective schools can be and how excited they are to go beyond.

Delaney said he will absolutely stay in contact with his exchange student in the future, and he plans to visit her and his other Italian friends.

To find more information on PHS’s Global programs, you can visit the World Ready Hub.