Grant Helps Edina High School Keep Japanese Amid Funding Crunch

Edina High School students are keeping the option of enrolling in Japanese classes thanks to a $16,000 grant from the Japan Foundation.

The high school has offered courses in Japanese for more than 20 years. The grant will pay the salary of an introductory Japanese teacher.

“The reality was that with increased class sizes and annual budget challenges, there was a real possibility that we weren’t going to be able to offer the introductory class in Japanese instruction to our students anymore,” said Eric Nelson, the high school's assistant principal, in a statement. “Each course in a modern language needs to meet a minimum enrollment in order to sustain the cost of providing the class.

"If that number cannot be reached, the course will be discontinued, which was almost the case with the Intro to Japanese class.” 

The course's instructor, Naomi Satoh, said she was grateful for the opportunity to keep teaching.

“I am very happy about the grant and also to be able to welcome another group of bright and enthusiastic Japanese 1 students this year,” she said.