By Thalia Garcia

The Sakura Matsuri was an amazing experience! I’m so glad I was able to attend the festival. One highlight I had of the festival was meeting new people and experiencing some of the cultural aspects like the food, the dancing, and looking at Japanese traditional clothing. During my time there I was able to share out what I’ve learned during the program and how much I’ve grown. During my shift at the booth, we had to meet students my age who live around the DMV area. I was able to connect with other teens my age on certain interests. During the festival, I went out to look at other booths and got my name written in katakana, see a show, and looks at the college booth. We were right next to Temple University-Japan!