OREANDA-NEWS. The TOMODACHI Initiative and SoftBank Corp. announced the "TOMODACHI Summer 2014 SoftBank Leadership Program."

Fully funded by SoftBank, this program will send approximately 100 Japanese high school students from the disaster affected prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima to the University of California, Berkeley. The July 21 to August 10 program is an intensive three-week course focused on global leadership, development and community service. Participating students will explore methods for strengthening their local communities, while gaining a further understanding of American society and culture through homestays, volunteer activities, and exchanges with U.S. high school students. In addition, this program will send a number of professionals from the three prefectures to enable further support for the students' activities following their return.

This is the third year that TOMODACHI and SoftBank have partnered to offer this program. Many of the students from the past two years are now applying what they learned for the benefit of their home communities.

Interested students are encouraged to apply for program via the link below. The due date for applications is March 24, 2014. Participants will be chosen at the end of May 2014.