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Six Kentucky Teachers Win Toyota-Sponsored Study Trip to Japan

23 May 2000

Six Kentucky Teachers Win Toyota-Sponsored Study Trip to Japan

    TORRANCE, Calif., May 23 The Institute of International
Education has announced that six Kentucky teachers won a Toyota-sponsored
competition that will bring them to Japan this summer for an educational and
cultural study program.
    Broad in scope, the intensive 14-day Toyota International Teacher Program
will take the selected teachers beyond the lecture halls into schools, homes,
factories, commercial districts, residential neighborhoods, historic monuments
and shrines throughout Japan.
    The Kentucky educators are among 50 U.S. high school teachers in six
states who were chosen from hundreds of applicants competing for the
all-expense-paid study trip.
    Funded through an annual $550,000 grant from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.,
Inc. (TMS) and administered by the Institute of International Education, the
nation's largest non-profit educational exchange organization, the merit-based
competition is also open to high school teachers in California, Indiana,
Michigan, Missouri and West Virginia -- states where Toyota operates major
facilities.  Toyota's manufacturing headquarters are located in Erlanger,
Kentucky and its Georgetown plant builds the Camry, Avalon and Sienna.
    "The teachers who experience this study program are gaining an
international understanding in an era of increasing globalization," said James
E. Press, TMS executive vice president.  "They are sharing this knowledge and
insight with their students and colleagues and in some cases, developing ties
between American and Japanese high schools.  We commend the teachers selected
this year for their plans to incorporate what they learn abroad into their
teaching at home."
    The program, which takes place June 8 through June 23, will combine
lectures from top Japanese scholars, government officials and business
executives with a firsthand look at the country's cultural, educational and
industrial institutions.

    The American teachers will tour factories, including a Toyota
manufacturing plant in Toyota City, and learn about the evolution of Japan's
technology and industrial development.  They will visit primary and secondary
schools, observe classrooms, communicate with students and teachers, meet with
a Japanese PTA group and be the guests of Tokyo families.
    Allan Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education, said
the Toyota International Teacher Program is designed to give participants an
in-depth look at the country and its people.
    "The program not only builds capacity among the teachers, it also enhances
a global perspective that is required in this day and age.  Participating
teachers come away with a profound sense of the mosaic of Japanese society, as
well as the importance of the ties between the United States and Japan, one of
the most critical global relationships," Goodman said.
    The study trip will give the teachers experiences as wide-ranging as a
Sumo wrestling practice and a stay at a traditional Japanese inn to a tour of
a Tokyo neighborhood with an innovative rain recycling program.  Their travels
also will take them to cultural and historical sites in Tokyo, Nagoya,
Hiroshima, Kameoka and Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital.
    The Toyota International Teacher Program strengthens the company's
longstanding commitment to supporting education.  In 1999 alone Toyota
contributed $16.9 million to American philanthropic programs, with more than
60 percent going to education.  Besides donating to a wide range of
educational organizations, TMS has created its own innovative programs,
including grants for science and math teachers, scholarships for students,
technical training and family literacy programs.


                   *  list of teacher participants follows

                                   KENTUCKY

     Name                     Home City           School & Location

     Charles Chrisman         Williamsburg        Williamsburg High School
                                                       Williamsburg

     Elizabeth R. McIntosh    Covington           Simon Kenton High School
                                                       Independence

     Judith M. Painter        Lexington           Tates Creek High School
                                                       Lexington

     Thomas R. Pyron               Clinton        Fulton County Area
                                                   Technology Center
                                                       Hickman

     Richard A. Royster            Lexington      Paul Laurence Dunbar High
                                                   School
                                                       Lexington

     Daniel J. Zoeller             Louisville     Trinity High School
                                                       Louisville