"What would you do if you felt like you belonged? And what would you do if someone told you that you didn't belong?"

These were some of the guiding questions that OES third graders were encouraged to explore during this week's visit to the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, whose mission is to preserve and share the history and culture of the Japanese American community.

Thanks to a connection from Visual & Performing Arts Department Chair Margaret Synan-Russell, the students had the opportunity to tour the Center with docent Jean Matsumoto. While at the Center, the OESians used their explorer notebooks to record their thoughts and feelings about the experience. Powerful photos accentuated the very special conversation students had with Jean, who is from Portland, but who lived at the Minidoka War Relocation Camp in the desert of Hunt, Idaho from 1942 to 1945. Amongst the hardships of relocation, Jean said she was still able to be happy. "I found happiness everywhere," she shared, "because I was with my friends."

Once back on campus, the students reflected on the trip by writing poems about what they had felt and seen. Themes that arose in these poems included what it means to feel history, the sounds of living conditions in the camps, and pushing through adversity. Here is Jacob P. '26's poem:

Sometimes it rains
Sometimes it's windy
But no matter how rainy or windy it is
I still have hope.