Noriko Kuwahara in the area where she would like to plant flowering cherry trees which are popular in her homeland, Japan.By Jayne Spencer
Her native Tokyo is a good piece away from the meadows and cornfields that surround the campus of Indiana University East in Richmond.
But for Noriko Kuwahara, the only Japanese student enrolled at East, a little bit of home will take the form of flowering cherry trees she has set about adding to the campus landscape.
The flowering trees, which are often planted on school grounds in Japan, are associated with education in that country. Kuwahara sees the tree planting as a way to promote cultural understanding in her adopted land. The project is also part of her class work for an environment and life course taught by Peg Branstrator.
You are invited to attend
Indiana University East
calligraphy tea ceremony
Everyone Welcome
as part of her class project for Environment and Life |
Next Wednesday (April 9), the campus community will join with Kuwahara at a flowering cherry tree dedication at noon at the Whitewater Hall lobby. A variety of Japanese cultural activities have been planned, including origami, calligraphy and a tea ceremony. (See invitation at right.)
Kuwahara had always dreamed of visiting the United States. She studied English, worked as a waitress and, at the age of 16, visited the West Coast for a month and later became an exchange student at Union High School in Modoc. After graduating from high school in Japan, she studied English at a conversation school for two years and dreamed of returning to the United States to study.
While she had a number of schools to consider, IU East won her heart.
As the only Japanese student on campus, she believes she has come that much farther along in her mastery of the English language.
Currently, Kuwahara is majoring in general studies and will receive an associate degree this spring. She plans to continue her studies in sociology, working toward a baccalaureate degree.
What does her future hold? Perhaps work with the United Nations or the airline industry.
But wherever life leads her after she completes her secondary education, Kuwahara will be remembered on the Hoosier campus each spring during cherry blossom time.
Service learning, it seems, has many seasons.
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