Hastings International Exchange Organization

The mission of HIEO is to enhance Hastings global awareness via cultural, educational, humanitarian, and economic development experiences. This year (2024) we are raising money for 10 students from Ozu, Japan to travel to Hastings, NE. The students will stay with host families for 10 days and we need the support to help these students see what Nebraska is all about.

The Hastings International Exchange Organization (HIEO) was formed in 1995 following a trip to Ozu by a group of Hastings citizens. The HIEO members, who are volunteer citizens of Hastings, maintain our connection to our sister city in Japan by organizing summer visits by Ozu public school students in homestay experiences with families here in Hastings. The most recent exchange was in the summer of 2019, when fourteen Japanese teenagers visited Hastings for a week. They had the opportunity to live with a local family and to experience the community of Hastings. Group outings with HIEO included swimming at the Aquacourt, touring Hastings College and CCC, making jewelry at Julie's Expressions, visiting the Stuhr Museum, spending the day at the Auten farm south of Hastings, and much more. Our Japanese friends were also able to spend evenings with their host families and join them in activities such as going to the county fair.



In 2017 we formed the Hastings Sister City Ambassador program so that local Hastings students could also take advantage of this cultural exchange opportunity. We sent our first group of 10 students to Ozu in May 2018. The plan is for us to alternate years (one year their teenagers visit and the next year our students from Hastings visit Ozu). We did have a brief hiatus because of covid but, fortunately, the city of Ozu was willing to host a group of high school students from Hastings in the summer of 2023. Students traveled to Japan where they stayed with a host family for 10 days, learning their household routines and family structures. During the day, Ozu city officials took the group to various sites and locations in the Ozu area.



Now in 2024, it is time for Hastings Nebraska to return the favor and host ten students from our sister city and help them learn our culture, and traditions and to see the sites Nebraska has to offer.