Outreach Scholarship Program Class of 2018 and 2021

Outreach Walkathon 2021

Mayumi Nakayama ‘90

Advancement Officer and Alumni Officer

The Nishimachi Outreach Walkathon 2021 was blessed with wonderful weather. Twenty-four alumni, eight alumni parents, and four former faculty/staff members took part in this event, which supports the school’s Outreach Scholarship program. This year, we saw a record number of Nishimachi-Kai participants. (For a full report on the 2021 walkathon, please see p.23.) Just as in previous years, the mothers of Issei Iida ’13 and Reona Yamaguchi ’13 hoisted the START banner up high, and our student walkers passed beneath it to lead off the event. Last year we held a virtual walkathon and were only able to see participants as faces on a screen. What a joy it was to see everyone in person this year!

Registrants

Alumni Reina (Punjabi) Boaz ‘96 Lalaka (Ogawa) Fukuma ‘90 Eriko Fukuyama ‘96 Leo G. ‘27 Shin H. ‘22 Nancy Hashima ‘83 Chika Hayashi ‘91 Rika Hayashi ‘92 Kiki Jiang-Yamaguchi ‘87 Ryoji Kubo ‘90 Kacie (Rosenberg) Leviton ‘95 Kurumi M. ‘25 Mayumi Nakayama ‘90 Karen O’Neill ‘78 Meadow S. ‘24 Tokuya Sano ‘86 Lina Sato ‘73 Mari Sekine ‘00 Mai Shoji ‘94 Mary (Inoue) Tamiya SP

Former Staff/Faculty Philippe Eymard Tazuko Shibusawa ‘69 Hiromi Tanabe ‘70 Ming-Yi Teh

Parents of Alumni Cora Hayashi Noriko Igarashi Naomi Kabira Yukari Kamibayashi Yoko Nakayama Fumie Watanabe

Overseas Jackson Malory ‘26 Jacob Malory ‘27 Joseph and Laura Malory

Nishimachi-Kai members (from left): Yoko Nakayama (mother of Mayumi ’90); Tokuya Sano ’86; Nancy Hashima ’83; Junko Sumiya ’83 (hiding behind Nancy H.); Mary (Inoue) Tamiya SP; Lalaka (Ogawa) Fukuma ’90; Rika Hayashi ’92 with her daughter, Juna; Reina (Punjabi) Boaz ’96 with her daughter, Saya; Chika Hayashi ’91; Lina Sato ’73 and her grandson; Eriko (Sakamoto) Fukuyama ’96; Kacie (Rosenberg) Leviton ’95; Mayumi Nakayama ’90; and Karen (Mass) O’Neill ‘78

Not pictured: Leo G. ’27; Kiki Jiang-Yamaguchi ’87; Ryoji Kubo ’90; Kurumi M ’25; Meadow S. ’24; Hiromi Tanabe ’70; former faculty member, Ming-Yi Teh; and alumni parents, Noriko Igarashi; Ikuko Iida; Naomi Kabira; Yukari Kamibayashi; Fumie Watanabe; and Saori Yamaguchi.

SAVE THE DATE

The Outreach Scholarship Golf Tournament is back! Saturday, May 28, 2022

On Stride Again!

Andrew Deane

Outreach Walkathon Co-Chair Grade 9 Advisor, MS Humanities

After a pandemic-enforced hiatus last year, the Outreach Scholarship Walkathon was held once more in person at our familiar site—the Meiji Jingu Gaien loop. Masked and maintaining social distance, 509 participants, including twentyone marshals and organizers and twenty-four alumni, gathered before the spectacular dome of the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery and marched around the 1.3 kilometer loop in solidarity for our Outreach Scholarship program. Our highest number of people ever, this is a testament not only to the esteem in which we hold the values that drive our Outreach Scholarship program but also to our desire to congregate once more as a coherent learning community. Indeed, together we raised ¥895,000. Thank you, everyone!

The towering trees turned brilliant crimson and gold by crisp sunny weather, the clean expanse of the newly bricked Meiji Jingu Gaien Plaza, and a spectacular Olympic Stadium made this an event to remember. Our head of school addressed us, and our very own exercise guru, Dan Williams, led us through stretching. And then it was off, knowing that we were in the safe hands of our volunteer marshals and our school nurse, Sayuri Fujita-Imazu, a first-time participant!

An event this size does not materialize without the energy and leadership of our Advancement Office and the time and enthusiasm of our volunteers. Hours of organization and planning

put in by Mary Margaret Mallat and Mayumi Nakayama ensured a smooth and safe event.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our five corporate sponsors, who donated generously to this event: MercedesBenz Japan, NIKE Japan, Asian Tigers, One WORLD International Hair Salon, and Cookietime. We cannot stage such large-scale events without the help of our friends. Thank you so much!

And then there were the numerous students who gave up their Saturday morning to walk in support of the scholarship program. In particular, I single out the incredible spirit of Jennifer Toyoshima’s grade 2 class, which fielded a record-breaking 94.4% of the class! In middle school, grade 9 (Hiromi Narita and Andrew Deane) led, with 50% of the class enrolled.

Our Nishimachi Global Citizenship statement reads in part, “being a global citizen means understanding ourselves, embracing diversity and taking action to create a peaceful and sustainable world.” In a fractured and fragmented world threatened by pandemic and climate change, we continue to stand—and stride— proudly in support of inclusion and diversity in our school and around the world.