Macon students to spend summer in Germany, Japan

A select group of high school students from Macon-Bibb County will be traveling overseas this summer.

Members of the Macon-Bibb County Youth Commission will visit Germany and Japan as part of two exchange programs. The youth commission is part of the Georgia Civic Awareness Program for Students.

One travel program — Ambassadors in Sneakers — selected three Maconites to participate in a four-week trip that includes two weeks in Germany cities of Tuebingen and Berlin. The students will learn more about human rights conditions in the U.S. and Germany as they meet with politicians, activists and other community leaders.

And for the trip to Japan, the John Manjiro Whitfield Commemorative Center for International Exchange is sponsoring 15 students to travel to the 27th Japan America Grassroots Summit.

“Not only are our students recognized, locally and nationally, they are now as international as our home city,” Macon-Bibb Assistant County Manager Charles Coney said earlier this week.

The “warm hospitality” exhibited last year when Macon-Bibb hosted 15 Japanese students and two teachers during a Georgia summit led to the invitation to visit Japan, Hiroko Todoroki, secretary general for the international exchange, said a letter.

The Japan trip will be from June 26-July 8. The summit will be held in the city of Nara and Macon-Bibb students will also visit Tokyo and Macon’s sister city of Kurobe City.

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Macon students to spend summer in Germany, Japan."