Five Iwate junior high students who are members of the IWATE ILC 2030 Project (run by Iwate Nippo Newspaper) returned on August 9th from a study trip to CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

Recalling the six-day trip, Kotomi Sato (Hanaizumi JHS, 2nd year) said, “I asked lots of questions to accomplished international scientists who answered them seriously. It was an experience that you almost think wouldn’t be able to happen in your lifetime.”

Momoyo Sugawara (Mizusawa JHS, 3rd year) said, “The physicists at CERN are all so cool, so I definitely want the ILC to come to Iwate.”

Mayuko Yamamoto (Kamaishi JHS, 2nd year) described her vision of the future: “There were many people in the international city of Geneva who greeted us in Japanese. I want to greet foreign people who come to Japan in their own languages.”

Yume Ishikawa (Takizawa-minami JHS, 1st year) was determined: “I was nervous about speaking to foreigners, but when I tried making conversation at parks and airports, I was able to make new friends. I’m going to work harder on my English.”

Go Hatakeyama (Kuroishino JHS, 2nd year) was proud of the trip. “I was worried because I was the only boy, but we all became fast friends. It was a very fun six days.”

The five students held a goodbye ceremony at Tokyo Station on the same day, and then took the Tohoku Shinkansen train back to Iwate where they returned home. They will present on their trip during the ILC workshop held in Morioka City in December.