Japanese author/artist arranges scholarship

South Kent School has entered into an agreement with Shueisha Publishing Co., which is a major magazine publishing group in Japan with over 3 million readers.

Slam Dunk will sponsor two Japanese student-athlete scholarships for the 2009-10 school year. These student will play on the SKS Prep Basketball team and will be coached by Kelvin Jefferson.

The main organizer of the Slam Dunk Scholarship is Takehiko Inoue, who is an author and artist. He has written and illustrated a 31-volume graphic novel series about a basketball team from Shohoku High School, which has sold over 100 million copies in his home country. He has also written two other series, also based on basketball.

Mr. Inoue is extremely well known and when he visited South Kent in February, many of the Asian students asked for his autograph.

There has also been a 101-episode anime TV series produced and four animated movies made, based on Mr. Inoue’s stories.

Mr. Inoue keeps an online journal for his fans (www.itplanning.co.jp) and he shares his candid comments about what he discovered about the school, students and the facilities during his recent visit.

He left the SKS campus to visit an alum who is playing in the NBA. Dorell Wright of the Miami Heat hosted Mr. Inoue in Miami.

“He's a young man of good character, just like Coach Chillious said yesterday,” Mr. Inoue wrote. “That's how he looks. Compared to when talking about his team's situation with the Heat not able to improve very well, his face naturally lit up and relaxed when talking about South Kent, and especially Coach Chillious. You could say that his smile was still innocent. At the end, he hoped that if a Japanese player went to South Kent that they would enjoy the entire experience. That message was from a graduated alum.”