I graduated UVM in May 2014 with a BA in Japanese Language and a minor in Mathematics. I moved to Japan in August 2014 to become an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) through a private company. Since then, I moved into the office as an instructor manager for the local office and have now become the instructor manager for the regional company covering the six prefectures of Tohoku and all of Hokkaido. In my current role, I help the three local offices manage over 500 instructors in a wide range of localities. We have instructors on a small island of 2,000 people off the north coast of Hokkaido, in small isolated mountain villages along the Iwate-Akita border, we have people working in some of the largest cities in Japan (Sendai and Sapporo), and instructors living and working in towns along the coast of Fukushima that were impacted by the triple disaster of 2011.

My interest in Japan started the usual way, with manga, anime, and video games from a young age. But my desire to live in Japan came from a 10-day homestay in 2008 with a family in Tsugaru City, Aomori run through a local sister city program.

When it came time to choose universities, I knew that I wanted to stay in New England, I wanted to study Japanese, and I wanted a university that cared about community service. I quickly settled on The University of Vermont after visiting several campuses that fit what I was looking for.

My time at UVM was divided into three main areas: The Dewey House for Civic Engagement, the Japanese program, and rowing. Rowing demanded a lot of my time thanks to morning and evening practices and a lot of travel on weekends for regattas and races. The Dewey House helped me engage with the larger Burlington community through volunteering and community engagement activities. The Japanese program helped set me up for success in Japan.

The instructors of the Japanese program: Suzuki-sensei, Corson-sensei, Ikeda-sensei, and Ueno-sensei introduced me not only to the Japanese language, but to the history, culture, and literature of Japan. I wasn't the best student - I remember being awoken by phone calls from my classmates because I had slept through the midterm one semester - but they were all incredibly patient and willing to make time for me, and all of their students, to learn outside of class as well.

Suzuki-sensei was my main language instructor over the four years, and what she taught me I still use day-to-day in my life in Japan over ten years later. Ikeda-sensei taught me Japanese literature and helped me place the language in a broader cultural context.

Since moving to Japan in August 2014, the language and culture I learned at UVM has helped me greatly. I spent the first 3 years in Japan as an ALT in Kawasaki-machi, a small town of 9,000 people southwest of Sendai, Japan's twelfth largest city and the capital of Miyagi prefecture. The Japanese I learned at UVM helped me make friends with everyone in the town - at one point, the mayor and I became drinking buddies at the local izakaya. I worked at two junior highschools and two kindergartens. This being a small town, I didn't have more than 150 students across the four schools I worked at. I hadn't studied teaching, but quickly learned on the job how to connect with the students. The relationships I made in town and the joy of watching the students grow each day made the three years I spent as an ALT the three best years of my life.

Because I was able to communicate in Japanese, I often supported ALTs in the local area with the basics of navigating life in Japan. The company took notice of this and offered me a position in the office in August 2017. I wanted to help other people enjoy their time as an ALT at least half as much as I had and accepted the offer.

Since then, I have been living in Sendai and slowly been given more responsibilities and more people to support.

I have to thank Suzuki-sensei, Ikeda-sensei, Carson-sensei, and Ueno-sensei. Their patience and guidance during my four years in the University of Vermont Japanese Program helped me get to where I am today.