The best thing about Soka is its student diversity. Students come from over 23 US states and 30 countries. I get to meet so many students from around the globe in this small campus environment so I get to visit them during my school breaks :) I've been to Wisconsin, San Francisco, Yosemite, Japan (Osaka and Tokyo) and I plan to visit India, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, Las Vegas, England, Nepal, Tanzania and more! In a sense, it means free accomodation wherever you go traveling. People usually have several cultures as part of their identity too. For example, I'm a Japanese-Australian. Also, I have a friend who's Japanese, but grew up in Venezuela (so she's fluent in Spanish, English and Japanese), and my best friend is Japanese too, but she was born in Hong Kong, and grew up in Japan, Bangladesh, France, Switzerland, Nepal, and England. My friend from Germany is liberal, down-to-earth and open-minded, therefore being a master at the Chinese-language. I also get insights into different perspectives and cultures, so everyday is an interesting day.
People are always surprised when they hear that Study Abroad is a graduation requirement here. The study abroad program helps students take a break from their studies and reflect on their interests and future. It's also about being a global citizen: placing oneself in an unfamiliar environment and seeing things from a different cultural perspective.
People are always surprised when they hear that Study Abroad is a graduation requirement here. The study abroad program helps students take a break from their studies and reflect on their interests and future. It's also about being a global citizen: placing oneself in an unfamiliar environment and seeing things from a different culture, and a different perspective.
We also have something called Learning Cluster, where students engage in an interdisciplinary 3-week research. We only take the one course for the month and people get to engange in experiential learning. In my freshmen year, I took "Building La Escuela Freire" (learning about charter schools and the politics of education). As a class, we took several fieldtrips to Santa Ana to conduct naturalistic observation of the community and the schools. This year, I had the opportunity to take "women leadership education and empowerment." LC is always a chance to learn something that is not part of the Soka curriculum. Taking both of the LCs, I had a life-changing experience. Learning Clusters are great opportunities to widen on'es perspectives, and for some people, a great opportunity to travel. Funding for LCs has improved over the years. This year, many students went to India, Korea, Panama, Guatemala, Peru, and China. Those who stayed back had great encounters with leaders across the nation.