January 13th 
Monday morning the students arrived in time for classes. The students had a lecture from the Mounts Botanical Gardens staff and learned about how to manage water resources, how important conservation is for a sustainable future, and how to identify wildlife using a dichotomous key. 
In the afternoon the students visited Busch Wildlife Hospital in Jupiter and learned about why invasive species cannot be released back into the wild and how animals who are harmed can be helped there at the hospital.

January 14th
On Tuesday the students went to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge to learn about native animal species, water quality testing, usual ecosystem conditions, and how to remove invasive species.

January 15th-16th
On the final day of the program, the students had a lecture about exotic species that were causing damage to the Everglades ecosystem. Then, in the afternoon, they participated in fieldwork with the Jupiter High School students, working on a butterfly garden and collecting invertebrates from the Jupiter High wetland.
In the evening, they had their final event, a dinner with all of the teachers and homestay families from Jupiter High School. It was a bittersweet evening, as they knew they had to leave in the morning. 
On the morning of the 16th, bright and early, the students departed by plane, travelling back to Kyoto.
Thank you so much to the teachers and staff of Jupiter High School, all of the wonderful lecturers, and also to the homestay families. The students had a meaningful and educational time that will never be forgotten, thank you so much!

Meeting with Kyoto University
After the students returned to Japan, they started to prepare for a trip to Kyoto University to share the results of their trip and to propose new ideas for the future of Japan and Kyoto. Unfortunately the coronavirus prevented their trip and they had to wait several months, but finally, in August they could meet with the Laboratory of Regional Planning in the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies at Kyoto University (LRP-GES).

For over an hour the students presented their ideas and received clarifying questions and advice from the professors and graduate students who are members of the LRP-GES lab. It was an amazing experience and we are very grateful to the LRP-GES and to Kyoto University for meeting with us!

Our students are featured on the LRP-GES blog as well: //lrp.ges.kyoto-u.ac.jp/index.php/2020/08/06/sagano-high-school-students-global-presentation/
 
Thanks to everyone involved with the Sagano High School Florida Program, 2020 was a successful year!