Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great honor that we have officially reached over 25 signatures! Give yourself a round of applause!

pause for the applause

Ok but seriously though, this might not seem like much (and it kinda isn't, when compared to others) but your support to this petition shows that people really are committed to this, which I think is truly heartwarming. Because of you, others will get involved and inspired by our work, and I believe that together we can bring Japanese to our school. So thank you!

Oh yeah, speaking of bringing it, I was recently told by the admin about a super significant piece of history from our Grizzly past. You ready? Drumroll please!

McMinnville used to have a Japanese foreign language course!

That's right! For many years, McMinnville High School--along with others around the state--used to teach Japanese at our education centers. It even reached the middle and elementary schools before! But unfortunately, interest in Japanese slowly died out. By 2005, Japanese at MHS was entirely cut out.

From what I've been told, the last time the course was open only had 15 students in it. To keep a class going, there needs to be at least 2/3 of students interested and enrolled in the course to stay open. The max back then was 45 students, and since 15 wasn't enough...

I'm currently seeking out more detailed information about this issue and what happened, but all I can say to you right now is this: If we want this course to be reintroduced into our high school, then we're gonna need all the help we can get! Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your neighborhood! Reignite that passion for Japanese! If we can get enough people interested, then maybe, JUST MAYBE...

...we just might have a chance at this!