2024 Travel Grant Recipients
Cynthia Gonzalez-Leon
Everett Alvarez High School
Joanna Moreno-Vides
Rancho San Juan High School
Joanna and Cynthia will be traveling to Japan this summer with New Perspectives Japan, joining a group of students from Kentlake High School in Washington. Their trip begins at the Tokyo Olympic Center for orientation, followed by a homestay with a Japanese host family in Miyazaki (Kyushu), a high school immersion experience, and travel with the group to key cultural and historic sites around Japan.
Joanna, who is already bilingual in Spanish and English, wants to become proficient enough in a third language, Japanese, to “use it within a professional medical setting.” She plans to become a medical translator for Spanish and Japanese speakers, then a registered nurse who can communicate effectively with Japanese and Spanish speaking patients. She feels that the ability to communicate in multiple languages helps to create an inclusive environment where everyone can be seen and heard. She wants to better understand people with diverse backgrounds so that she an “become someone patients can identify with to help them to get the care that they need.”
Cynthia told us that she’s “not typically an extrovert,” but that whenever she steps into her Japanese class, she surprises herself at how much she comes out of her shell and that she feels like a whole new persona, helping peers in need, embracing new tasks, and feeling a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. She said that “Japan as a country has always captivated me and if given the chance to experience the enriching culture and further expand my knowledge through first hand experiences and this once in a lifetime opportunity, I’d truly be so honored.”