A partnership with Rikkyo University takes two students to Japan
Featured News | January 16, 2018
By Laynee Timlin
Each January brings unique opportunities for students to explore and discover during Winter Session. VWU’s Winter Session is a special three-week academic term when students can concentrate their studies on one intensive course. During Winter Session, they can take unique courses not offered during the regular semester, fulfill needed course requirements or participate in exciting study away experiences.
Opportunities to study away are coordinated by Mandy Reinig, VWU’s director of the study away program, as part of The Lighthouse: Center for Discovery and Exploration.
“During Winter Session 2018, VWU has 57 students and eight faculty members studying in Costa Rica, Germany, Hawaii and Israel to explore the three major world religions,” said Reinig. “This January, they’ll have opportunities to conduct field research on neotropical ecosystems, examine Berlin's past through its present, and explore the impact of adventure tourism on the environment, culture, and the economy.”
In addition, for the first time in VWU history, two students are also studying in Tokyo, Japan during Winter Session as a result of a partnership with Rikkyo University. As part of a scholarly exchange and collaboration agreement signed by President Miller and Professor Tomoya Yoshioka, president of Rikkyo University, two scholarships for VWU students to travel to its campus for their January Japanese Cultural Immersion Program were offered. The program comprises 45 hours of instruction and 25 hours of lecture on Japanese culture and society, and includes field trips. Grants from The Lighthouse support students' travel and expenses for room and board.
“We selected two exceptional Virginia Wesleyan students for this opportunity,” said Director of The Lighthouse Sara Sewell. “After reviewing many outstanding applications, Cassandra Caldwell '19 and Zoe Traficante '18 were selected as the first VWU students to benefit from this new experience at Rikkyo University.”
Rikko is a private university, in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. Known as one of the six leading universities in Tokyo, Rikkyo enrolls nearly 20,000 students. Caldwell and Traficante are taking courses on Japanese language and culture while there from January 10 through January 27, 2018. Both are very excited about this incredible experience.
For VWU junior Cassandra Caldwell, a biology major/chemistry minor who aspires to work as a physician-scientist, studying abroad is a paramount accomplishment towards her career goals.
“I constantly browse international journals that demonstrate the scholarly merit gained when intellectual leaders contribute ideas across borders,” remarked Caldwell. “My coursework and experiences at VWU have helped to prepare me for this adventure.”
While at Virginia Wesleyan, she has completed an international relations course, finished a Lifespan Development psychology course that highlighted differences between individualistic cultures like the Unites States and collectivist nations like Japan, taken an Honors Buddhist Philosophy course and she’s currently studying a book on Kanji given to her by her father, a retired U.S. Naval officer formerly stationed in Yokosuka, to learn linguistic basics. She says that by studying Japanese culture and society at Rikkyo, her personal and professional possibilities as a first generation college student are exponentially multiplied.
VWU Senior Zoe Traficante, math major/business minor, is interested in this opportunity to fully immerse herself into Japanese culture at Rikkyo University. After studying abroad in Prague during Winter Session 2017, she looked forward to once again widening her horizons in ways that she never thought possible.
“Rikkyo University seems to be a pioneer in the evolution of global education through their unique liberal arts and advanced leadership curriculum, as well as their open dialogue with other liberal arts universities throughout the world...I’m specifically interested in advanced leadership education at Rikkyo. I can gain more exposure to different leadership styles and techniques while making great strides in my personal independence.”
Caldwell and Traficante will be documenting their experiences while studying away. Follow their journeys during Winter Session as they try their hands at Japanese calligraphy and experience a Japanese homestay by reading their blogs.
According to Reinig, studying away during Winter Session offers many students the only opportunity they will have to experience a unique environment and culture during their entire academic career at Virginia Wesleyan University. She says that while some students use short-term courses as stepping stones to semester-long experiences, many will not.
“As such, The Lighthouse currently has an initiative targeted at making most of its short-term study away courses available to lower as well as upper division students to ensure that anyone who would like to take advantage of a study away course opportunity is not limited by the academic prerequisites.”
Visit the VWU website to learn more about Winter Session. For more information on short-term study-away courses, semester-long programs, and VWU course grants through The Lighthouse: Center for Exploration & Discovery, visit the Study Away Program website or contact Mandy Reinig, director of the study away program.