Chaperon Selection and Application Process
STUDENT APPLICATION
CHAPERONE APPLICATION

Chaperone Application (PDF)

You can submit the application via email: ​

info@ketchikankangerokanayama.org

or turn it in at the Schoenbar Middle School office (school staff are not responsible for reviewing applications for completeness or accuracy).​

Chaperone Selection Process & Criteria
Ketchikan, Alaska – Kanayama, Japan
Two-to-Three Week Visit in June

CHAPERONE APPLICATION CHECKLIST:

Applications must be completed by October 1st at 5pm with the following: 

       1. Chaperone Application
  
       2. Three references, including current employer 

Students in the 8th grade and their chaperones will be given the opportunity to live with host families, visit the schools and other points of interest in Kanayama area and Gero city, Japan, in June after the current school year ends. 

We will select up to four adult chaperones. If possible we would like one of the applicants to be a school district employee.  Applications must be electronically submitted or turned in to Schoenbar Middle School by October 1st of the current year. 

Selection of chaperones will be made from applications submitted to the Ketchikan Gero Kanayama Exchange Association by the Selection Committee and is based on the following: 

STEP 1 - Application Process

• Submit completed application.
• Have three references submitted.  One employer and two personal references.

STEP 2 - Review of Applicants

• Selection Committee will review all applications.
• If an application is incomplete, the applicant will not receive an interview.
• If an application is complete the committee will: Review applications and references.
• The committee will then determine when they will hold interviews and call potential exchange candidates to set up interviews.  

STEP 3 - The Interview

• You will interview with a committee of 3-5 board members and the current Japanese teacher.
• Interview will last 20-30 minutes.
• Please be early.  If you are late we may need to re-schedule your interview.
• If you do not show up - we will assume that you are no longer interested in applying.
• Please wait for the person ahead of you to finish.

At the interview the committee will share some of the background of the exchange and expectations of the exchange with you.  You will be asked questions.  You will have an opportunity to ask questions of the committee.

STEP 4 - Chaperone Selection

• The committee will discuss each applicant.  
• The committee may select up to four (4) chaperones.

STEP 5 – Notification

• The committee will phone each applicant within three days of the last interview regarding acceptance or not to the exchange.

STEP 6 - What's Next?

• The KGK executive board will hold a chaperone only meeting to go over expectations prior to the first whole group meeting that includes the students and families.
• A student-parent-chaperone-board meeting will be set up to start the year.​

What is expected of chaperons?

​The Ketchikan Gero Exchange Association expects the chaperones of the exchange group to be ideal role models by exhibiting exemplary behavior and cooperation with students, parents, communities, and schools both in Ketchikan and Japan.

You must be engaged and participate in all planning and fundraising events, participate on a committee; host communities, and be willing to host a Japanese visitor; regularly attend Sunday classes with students to learn culture and language, and build relationships of trust and respect between the students and chaperones.

Be fully committed to the program, submit to the organization’s decisions regarding the exchange, and understand that your chaperone duties are the primary reason for going to Japan. Display leadership qualities, be respectful, mature and courteous. Refrain from using inappropriate language.

Be organized and able to work in cooperation with other chaperones, parents, students, exchange board members, and community businesses and host organizations. 

Be flexible and accepting of cultural differences, and fully comply with all Japanese laws, and all rules and customs of the host family with whom you are placed.  

Be neat and clean in personal hygiene, in good health, and properly dressed during activities scheduled both by the program and by host organizations. 

Refrain from drinking and engaging in other inappropriate activities while in the presence of the students. Refrain from drinking in excess when with host families or at other activities held solely for group adults while students are in the care of their respective host families. 

Be willing to take responsibility for the students while traveling. You will help oversee all students in the group, and will be in charge of a small group of students while traveling. Chaperones will be the primary contact from/to parents and the board.

Upon return, be willing to share your personal experiences with Ketchikan Borough Assembly, Ketchikan School Board and the Ketchikan-Gero Exchange Association. 

​Head Chaperone:

• You are the primary contact person while in Japan
• You will present the gifts and thank you to the leaders in Japan
• You will have one extra speech to give to the Mayor in Gero City
• You will thank the dignitaries in your farewell speech.

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