What some may not know about Mid-Pacific is that a large number of International students attend our school from places around the globe.

With this in mind, it’s important to understand the experience of an international exchange student here at Mid-Pacific.

The Mid-Pacific International Student Program gives the opportunity for students from around the world to come to Mid-Pacific and experience life as a student.

Currently, there are 30 International Students from other countries across the globe.

In the program, all of the students are divided into three levels with ten students in each. In these three levels, they’re divided based on their English Language Development. Students with higher understanding of English can be put into the higher levels.

One of the hardest obstacles of being an international student at Mid-Pacific is the challenging language barrier for many of the students. Even though it can be hard, freshman Chitose Tokinaga describes it as “difficult but fun!”

Tokinaga is originally from Osaka, Japan. She a sixteen years old that enjoys sleeping in and playing basketball with her older sister.

“Studying English is difficult but fun, and I’m glad I joined the basketball club and made a lot of friends.” Tokinaga said.

When it comes to the ways Mid-Pacifc differs her school back in Japan, she explains that the teaching is different.

This can be seen in the way the school is organized.

“In Japan the teacher comes to the classroom but here students walk to their classes.” Tokinaga said

Tokinaga also noticed the strict dress code in Japanese schools in contrast to schools in Hawai’i.

“Japanese high schools had uniforms, but not here,” Tokinaga said.

Since being here at Mid Pacific, Tokinaga has expressed that she loves how big and beautiful the school is and also commented that everyone here is friendly and welcoming. But a few things she isn’t a fan of is the new “no phone rule”, which the adminstartion has enforced this school year, and how long each class has become.

For the international students they not only have to attend different schools but also become a part of different families.

Tokinaga lives with a host family. However, this family differs every three months.

Though there are many students in the program, only few participate in extracurricular activities. This makes Tokinaga stand out in the crowd.

Tokinaga has been playing basketball for three years back in Japan and her experience with the sport has been a huge help to this year’s junior varsity basketball team.

On the court neither her teammates nor head coach, Koa Sai have anything negative to say about Tokinaga.

“It is very easy to coach Chitose because of her desire to get better and be able to contribute to the team’s success. She is very aggressive, and always looking to get her teammates involved.” Sai said.

Chitose Tokinaga is a very kind person on and off the court. Mid-Pacific is grateful to have her as a Pueo and welcomes her with open arms.