In a first for J. F. Oberlin University, Saya Kaneda, a fourth-year student in the College of Business Management, was recently selected to be one of the 13th Japan Outreach Initiative (JOI) program coordinators.

JOI is a program of the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership and the Laurasian Institution. It promotes awareness and understanding of Japan in regions of the United States with relatively few Japan-related activities and opportunities for exchange and aims to nurture new leaders in the field of grassroots exchange.

Ms. Kaneda studied at Western Carolina University as part of J. F. Oberlin’s Junior Year Abroad program, and after coming back from the United States, she applied to the JOI program. Out of many applicants from all over Japan, she was selected to be one of five program coordinators. She doesn’t know yet where she will work, but after finishing training, she will work in the U. S. for two years, beginning this summer.