City of St. Petersburg Selects Students for Takamatsu Student Ambassador Program

City of St. Petersburg Selects Students for Takamatsu Student Ambassador Program and Celebrates 38 Years of Cultural Exchange with Sister City

June 8, 2026 - The City of St. Petersburg and its sister city, Takamatsu, Japan, are excited to announce this year's Takamatsu Student Ambassadors. Continuing a tradition that began in 1988, three pairs of students will swap cities, countries, and families, living in each other's homes this summer.

Rising seniors Ella Brittingham (Northeast High School), Elise Chandler (St. Petersburg High School), and Cole Landers (St. Petersburg High School) were selected to represent St. Petersburg in Takamatsu this summer.

Selected students will travel from St. Petersburg to Takamatsu in early July and attend high school classes for two days while staying with their host families. Students traveling from Takamatsu to St. Pete in early August will also live with the families of the students they host. The students will spend nearly two weeks together in Japan and nearly ten days together in St. Pete.

St. Pete's student ambassadors will have official business in Takamatsu, each making a presentation about St. Pete to Takamatsu Mayor Hideto Ōnishi and the City Council. The students will visit temples and other important sites, and learn about Japanese culture and family life. Japanese students will deliver presentations to St. Pete Mayor Kenneth T. Welch, St. Pete City Council, and St. Pete Chamber of Commerce during their stay. They will visit St. Pete's museums and cultural institutions and explore the differences and similarities between the two cultures.

In 1961, St. Petersburg and Takamatsu were among the first pairs of cities in Florida and Japan to form a sister city relationship. Eckerd College has been sending graduates to teach there since 1966, while Takamatsu began sending municipal staff to shadow counterparts in St. Pete in the 1970s. Numerous citizen delegations, sometimes numbering over 50, have also traveled to St. Pete. Similarly, multiple local businesses, youth delegations, softball teams, groups, and individuals have visited Takamatsu. Sending rising high school seniors to Takamatsu has been a popular, long-running program. All high school juniors who live in St. Petersburg are eligible to apply.

SPIFFS, the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society, manages the City of St. Petersburg's sister city program, along with presenting the annual International Folk Fair. For more information, visit https://www.stpete.org/international.