The Buckingham County Elementary gifted class visited the middle school on Dec. 16 to participate in a Japanese cultural class with the middle school. This was the second time that the two groups have worked together with instructor Taiki Sawabe from the Japan Outreach Initiative. Students learned how to do a Japanese dance called “The Fishermen’s Dance” and tried on Japanese jackets which are mainly worn to festivals. In addition to the monthly Japanese class at the middle school, elementary students in the gifted program participate each Thursday in an afterschool class in which they explore STEM topics and write a school newspaper distributed to the entire school. Pictured are, from left, Tyler Selzer, Morgan Ballowe, Hannah Savage, Rondal Richardson, Sadie Mullins, Kaylee Price, Sawabe, Caroline Browning and Malaysia Maxey.