Kasumi Sawaki is a sophomore majoring in business management. She is a Japanese international student who came to the U.S. in the summer of 2017. She’s been involved in life at Washburn and she has taken part in many activities.

Sawaki has been a member of the International Club beginning this semester. The International Club is an organization which connects international and American students through campus activities in an interactive and culturally inclusive way in order to help build and enrich Washburn University’s community.

“I want to get some experience of planning events and get better communication skills,” said Sawaki. “I work very hard in the International Club.”

Sawaki helped to organize several activities this semester. She took part in the Mid-Autumn Festival Party, BBQ Party at International House, Homecoming party and the Pizza Party on Labor Day. 

Sawaki is the organizer of the annual Culture Celebration, which includes live performances, fashion show and booths. People can experience free food, drinks and cultural exhibition. 

The culture celebration of 2018-2019 academic year was planned to take place in November. It was postponed to the spring semester because some performers have cancelled their performances. She will keep working to collect more performers in the spring semester.

“She (Sawaki) is always a hard worker for everything,” said Narumi Hishinuma, a senior mass media major. “I don’t think she has ‘give up’ in her brain, and this is why I am so proud of her.”

Sawaki was born and raised in Japan. She made up her mind to study abroad when she was in high school.

“I wanted to go somewhere people don’t really know me, which will challenge myself in a new environment,” said Sawaki. “Students knew each other from my elementary school to high school.” 

Sawaki wanted to see the world where she hadn’t been. She traveled to Austria when she was 18. After that, she decided to come to a college in the U.S. She improved her English a lot at Washburn.

“I heard that people in Kansas speak very normal English without an accent,” said Sawaki. “I want to learn English and I think it’s good place to learn.”

Sawaki has made many new friends from all over the world based on her study at Washburn and experience in the International Club. She’s also facing some cultural differences at the same time. People from different places have different habits and traditions. She tries to understand people and their culture.

“Many conflicts or fights happen because of misunderstanding of each other, so we need to know about other cultures,” said Sawaki. “Understanding other cultures is very important, and I believe it’ll make people better and we can make the world better.”

Sawaki plans to graduate in 2021. She hasn’t decided what she will do and where she will go after graduation, but she has a desire to go to more countries where she hasn’t been in the world. She will have a future exploring more cultures in the world.