I am applying for the Gilman Scholarship to pursue and support my studies at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, Japan. I am a junior at Hawaii Pacific University with a double major in International Studies with a concentration in Development and Sustainability and Asian Studies, while pursuing a minor in Japanese. Studying at Aoyama is imperative to my development as a student and personal goals of immersing myself in the Japanese language and culture, and becoming a multilingual sustainable designer.
I fell in love with the Japanese culture and language at the age of five. My first day of kindergarten at Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies in Detroit, MI catapulted my mind to look at the world from a different perspective. I found a way to not only express myself in one language but two. The Japanese language has opened opportunities that gave me a unique learning experience at a young age continuing into my adventurous college studies at Hawaii Pacific University. Learning a
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Studying at Aoyama Gakuin would not only expand my global communication, but increase my global networking and give me an opportunity to improve my Japanese speaking ability and to get an even deeper understanding of the Japanese culture. The opportunity to travel and study abroad for a semester in Japan has been my goal since I found out it was possible through my university. The exchange program at Aoyama Gakuin will allow me to complete the academic requirements for my minor at HPU and allow me to directly study Japanese culture and the language that impacted my life positively and showed me that there is more to life than my immediate neighborhood. Aoyama Gakuin’s focus on academic research, enriching its international students, and excellent global studies and international communications programs led me to choose this university for my time