High Five: Rotary gives boost to Japanese student

Japanese student gets Rotary boost

At its weekly lunch meeting on May 16, the Spokane North Rotary Club presented a check of nearly $2,000 to Takako Kakizaki from Miyagi prefecture to allow her to remain in Spokane and complete her education. 

Kakizaki is a student at Spokane Falls Community College with just spring and summer quarters left for her to complete her associate’s degree. The earthquake and tsunami did not destroy her family’s house in Japan, but its effect had a dramatic negative impact on her parents’ employment and cost of living because of their close proximity to the damaged nuclear reactor complex. 

Kakizaki’s parents and three sisters narrowly avoided death in the March earthquake that triggered extremely destructive tsunami waves that struck Japan. With her parents’ inability to support her last two quarters of school it looked as though Kakizaki would have to return to Japan, something her parents definitely did not want her to have to do given the ongoing risks of where they live. 

Thanks to the work of the SFCC International Programs Office, which helped her receive a Japanese Emergency Assistance Fund grant from the Institute of International Education to pay the costs of her tuition and fees, and the Spokane North Rotary Club whose members agreed to cover her living expenses over the next few months, Kakizaki will be able to complete her studies and receive her hard-worked-for associate’s degree.

Founded in 1954, the Spokane North Rotary Club meets weekly on Monday at noon at the Red Lion River Inn, 700 N. Division St., Spokane, WA 99202. For more information email info@SpokaneNorth Rotary.org. You can also visit the website at www.spokanenorth rotary.org or become a fan on Facebook. 

Ashley Sinner

Spokane