Submitted by Dalton Public Schools

“Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” by Eleanor Coerr is a book that Ric Murry shares with his seventh-grade social studies students at Dalton Middle School as they study Japan. The story resonates with Murry because of its connection to history, and its central messages of world peace and how one student can make a difference.

On his bucket list, Murry wants to see the statue of Sadako that stands in her memory at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan. This summer, Murry’s dream will come true as he travels to Japan thanks to a trip he is receiving from the International Educators to Japan Program sponsored by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Georgia.

Murry heard about the program from Masaaki Fujiwara, the father of Sakura Fujiwara — one of Murry’s seventh-grade students. After meeting Mr. Fujiwara at a parent meeting in August, Murry received a packet of information from Sakura sent by Mr. Fujiwara.

“She brought me the packet and told me her dad wanted me to submit my application,” Murry said. “The program requires that a teacher must teach Japanese students now or in the future and never have traveled to Japan. I currently have two Japanese students (including Sakura) and know there are several others currently attending our elementary schools, so I decided to apply.”

The program sponsors two teachers annually from Georgia for the trip designed to help teachers of Japanese students gain a better understanding of the Japanese education system and the culture. In December, Murry was notified he was one of four finalists in the program and was invited to come to Atlanta for an interview. He also was told that the recipients from 2011 had been unable to make the trip last year because of the tsunami that hit Japan so one of those recipients was being allowed to travel this year. There would only be one additional participant selected for 2012.

After the interview, Murry was notified just before Christmas that he had been selected for the trip. Teachers on the two-week trip will travel to Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kyoto and visit elementary and secondary schools in those areas.

“I’m anxious to see how the students are taught in Japan and to see if the perceptions we have in America about Japanese students are reality,” Murry said. “We hear that Japanese schools are highly structured and don’t encourage interaction of students during class. I know that their students must compete academically to get into the best high schools so that they can then be accepted to a good university. I’m really looking forward to learning more about the differences between the Japanese and American education systems.”

Sakura, who moved to America when she was in the fourth grade, says she wants Murry to get to experience the Japanese culture. “Every day after school the students play and get really wild. I want him to get to experience that,” she laughingly said. “Also, I want him to taste the chocolate in Japan — it’s not sweet like chocolate in America.”

Another of the class activities during the study of Japan that Murry does with his students is to teach them origami and how to fold a paper crane. Japanese legend has it that if a person folds 1,000 paper cranes their wish comes true. In the story “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes,” a young Japanese girl, Sadako, who lives in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing during World War II, develops leukemia from radiation exposure. Sadako believes if she can make 1,000 paper cranes she will be granted her wish to live. Unfortunately, she dies having only made 644 cranes.

Her friends and family help finish her dream by folding the rest of the cranes, which were buried with her. They are also inspired to build a statue of Sadako holding a giant golden origami crane that now stands in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. The statue features an engraved plaque that reads, “This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace on Earth.” Today people from around the world visit the park and leave paper cranes near the statue in her memory to promote the cause of peace.

The highlight of the trip for Murry will be seeing the statue of Sadako in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and leaving the 1,000 paper cranes being made by the students at Dalton Middle School. “When I found out I was going on the trip,” Murry said, “I couldn’t wait to tell Sakura. After I told her the good news, she excitedly replied to me, ‘I made your dream come true.’ And indeed she has.”

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