Help 2000 students from US & Japan connect online!

When I first joined the Global Classmates program, I had no idea how much inspiration the Kizuna Across Cultures (KAC) community would give me to turn my passion for language learning into something bigger.

Before getting involved in KAC, my main goal in taking Japanese was to challenge myself to learn something entirely new and become a better communicator.

Growing up in a non-English speaking household, I’ve always been quiet and self-conscious about my communication skills. Not many middle schools offered Japanese as a language course, so when I entered high school, I took advantage of the Japanese course offering to experience something different and to start in the same place as everyone else. I quickly realized that it would be a much bigger challenge than I thought, but nonetheless, I loved the process of slowly but surely picking up more of the language, and the feeling of sentences rolling off my tongue more comfortably with each passing day.

In 2020, my class participated in the Global Classmates program, and it was through KAC that I realized that everything I learned not only helps me communicate my thoughts to others, but also opens up new opportunities to learn from others as well. The program gave us daily opportunities to interact with students from our sister school in Japan by setting up discussion forums with a variety of fun topics to contribute to in our own time. Every morning, I enjoyed waking up to see new comments added to ongoing conversations, and I felt excited when a new topic was introduced because I anticipated what we would talk about next. Exchanging stories, ideas, and perspectives with the Japanese friends I’ve connected with through the program taught me that the hard work that I put into language learning can manifest itself in new friendships and valuable opportunities for collective growth.

I had the honor of continuing my Global Classmates experience through the 2021 Summit, where I met 13 other incredibly inspiring U.S. and Japanese students. We put together fun presentations for each other to share part of ourselves, part of our cultures, and part of our hopes for the future, reminding me of how many things I have yet to experience or learn about. We also engaged in eye-opening discussions with leaders who encourage us to think about important matters like diversity and inclusion in a more global context. And lastly, we got to hear from professionals working in U.S.-Japan relations or multinational corporations, who inspired us to integrate our passion for language and culture learning into our future career goals. 

From Global Classmates and the Summit, I developed a drive to continue improving my knowledge of Japanese language and culture for a new purpose: to have more productive conversations internationally and build new opportunities for collaboration across the globe.

I’m now a college student studying Business Administration and Statistics, and I’m happy to continue being involved within KAC as the Social Media Intern. Seeing snippets of the friendly interactions that continue throughout the year remind me of how powerful these connections that we make can be. 

It also reminds me of my new long-term goal that KAC helped me realize. In the future, I hope to work within Global Business Development to promote the exchange of ideas, goods, and services across oceans, thus creating value for people beyond borders.

Links:

• https://kacultures.org/en/