With a bit of encouragement from
his father Yusuke Kojima decided to study in the United States. “I’m from Japan and when I decided to come
down here my father offered me that if I wanted to go down to the U-S or not, but
first I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and my father really wanted me to go
down to the U-S because there might be better opportunities for jobs and my
future if I come down here and get educated in the U-S, so that is the reason
why I came down here.”
Yusuke is attending Dakota State
University, but that wasn't his first introduction to an American college was
in Louisville. “Right now I’m currently at Dakota State University in South
Dakota and I use to go to the University of Louisville. I was there taking an ESL course, English As
A Second Language and I wasn’t taking any other course there, just
English.”
Dakota State University not only
offers Yusuke the field of work he wants to pursue one day, but it also affords
him the opportunity to enjoy one of his hobbies. “Well, my current advisor daughter was attending the University
of Louisville taking a Japanese class which is where my advisor was at that
time and she actually told me about South Dakota University and my hobby is
skiing and she told me that if I came here I could ski down here, so I was kind
of interested,” he says.
“Then I found out that South Dakota
University has much more there like smaller class sizes and it is a small
university so it may be a good place to go as I found out so that is the reason
I came down here. [Also] I wasn’t sure
what I was going to do at that time and later on I found out that they have web
graphic design major so that is another reason to be here.”
Adjusting to American culture and
language is a challenge sometimes for Yusuke, but academically he says he is
doing fine. “The language barrier is a
primary problem for me. The class
itself is really nice because we have small classrooms and everyone is helpful
to me, but sometimes there are words that I still cannot get like some of the
U-S culture, but classes are going really good and the relationship with the
faculty is nice,” he says.
“The thing is we have only twenty
people in the class at most so the relationship with the faculty is really close
and they can understand me well and I can understand them well so that really
helps me in class.”
When it comes to the international
population at Dakota State University, Yusuke says it is a small community of
students. “There’s not many international
students at the university probably me and another Japanese [student] is
currently there. There are a few, but
not many people are involved with an international club,” he says. “I’m actually the president of the
international club and since it is a small university me and one other member
is in the club.”
Yusuke has another year before he
graduates. He says he will go back home
to Japan. “Well after I graduate, I am currently thinking about going back to
Japan and look for a job as a graphic designer and I am still not sure I if
will work here in the States, but my plan is going back to Japan and work as a
graphic designer.”
Advice Yusuke has for other
international students..... “People who are just thinking about coming down
here or they are not sure about it, they are scared or worried, then I say just
come here and you will be fine. I know
what people worry about like coming here and the language and people might be
harmful to them or something, but I say everyone is nice and people usually try
to understand me and understand other people so I say come here and you will be
fine, just down think to hard and have fun!