Though it is not required to graduate, Tupelo High School offers several foreign language classes, including French, Spanish, German and Latin. Now, however, word has quickly spread of a new foreign language that will be offered next year: Japanese.

THS will be teaming up with the University of Mississippi to offer the class. The teacher, rumored to be someone native to Japan, will be supplied by Ole Miss, much like the dual credit classes already offered. However, despite the school’s decision to hold the class, not much else has been decided.

“At this point it hasn’t totally been set up, because we’re still meeting with the University of Mississippi because they’re also going to be teaching a class at the Toyota plant,” said Tim Carter, THS 12th-grade administrator.

Because the class will be offered in two places, THS and the Toyota plant will have to work around each other’s schedule. Scheduling the class has been very difficult because of this issue.

“It’s not even in the schedule yet,” Carter said. “We discussed a little about it. We’re still trying to get everything together, master schedule wise. We’re in the very beginning stages of getting the program going.”

Japanese is not a common foreign language to be taught at most high schools, making this a very unusual decision in most communities.

The class has been advocated by students in recent years, most likely because of the influx of families who came to work for the Toyota plant, but THS has not had the ability to actually implement such a class until now.

Many students, such as sophomore Noah Hunt, look forward to the new class.

“I think it’s a great idea because so many people eat Japanese food and enjoy other aspects of Japanese culture, and it’ll be nice for some of those people to begin to learn that language and maybe understand a bit more of the culture through that,” Hunt said.

Sophomore Connor Harper agrees.

“It’s something a lot of people would be interested in,” Harper said. “The Japanese culture and language is something a lot of teens want to know about.”

Though Victoria Wise is a current senior at THS and cannot take the class next year, she believes it would be a good experience for other students.

“I commend anyone who would want to take it,” Wise said. “I’m glad that we are acknowledging that the Japanese community is growing in our area, and I think that class will help bridge the gap between us and bring us closer together.”

Several teachers in the foreign language department are excited about the new class as well.

“I would like to meet the new Japanese teacher,” French teacher Clark Parker said. “They will be in for a culture shock.”

“I think it’s a great idea because with Toyota here, it’s going to be something important for our community to be familiar with,” Spanish teacher Marlene Nurse said.

Though no official schedule has been made, the class is projected to begin in the first semester of the 2015-2016 school year.