MAILED: June 26, 2001
EAU CLAIRE - A University of
Wisconsin-Eau Claire student will spend the 2001-02 school year studying in
Japan and learning more about the daily life of the Japanese people, language
and culture.
Sophomore Krista Brown, from Eau Claire, a
marketing major with an emphasis in international business, has been accepted to
study at Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata, Japan, through UW-Eau Claire’s
Center for International Education.
Brown was awarded a Bridging Scholarship, which is
offered through the US-Japan Bridging Foundation as part of an effort to
encourage more American undergraduates to study in Japan. Brown will receive
$4,000 to assist with her living expenses while studying abroad.
To experience Japanese daily life, Brown chose to live in
the dorms her first semester and with a Japanese family the second semester.
“I chose this combination because it will be easier to meet other
international and Japanese students by living in the dorms,” Brown said. “I
will hopefully use and learn Japanese more by living with a Japanese family.”
Scholarship recipients are chosen on the basis of their
applications, recommendations, and essays they write about why they want to
study in Japan. “We try to select a group of recipients who are diverse in
terms of majors, schools attended and geographical area,” said Susan Schmidt,
executive director of the Bridging Project, who is currently in Japan.
Brown, who has been studying Japanese for five years,
already traveled to Japan last summer. She feels she received the scholarship
because she was prepared and would benefit the most from the experience of
studying in Japan.
“I am very honored to have won the scholarship, Brown
said. “I plan to use my Japanese in some way when I work for either an
international, travel or hospitality business. I feel that by studying and
living in Japan it will allow me to not only learn the language, but also learn
more of Japan’s culture and traditions. I can then apply what I learn with the
Japanese customers that I will be dealing with in the future.”
The Japan-US Friendship Commission, an independent
federal agency promoting mutual understanding between the two countries,
established the Bridging Foundation and the scholarship fund, which is
administered by The Association of Teachers of Japanese, a professional
organization of more than 1,000 educators in Japanese language, literature, and
culture. Contributors to the fall 2001 scholarships include Teradyne, Morgan
Stanley Dean Witter, IMCA, Lockheed Martin, Merrill Lynch, Shinsei Bank,
Northwest Airlines, Weyerhaeuser, Philip Morris, the Freeman Foundation, and the
Starr Foundation.
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RM/NW
[Administrative Offices]
[News Bureau]
Janice B. Wisner
UW-Eau Claire News Bureau
Schofield 201
(715) 836-4741
newsbur@uwec.edu
Updated: June 26, 2001
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