Junki Hamano, from Japan, received his associates degree from SRJC in business this May. He hopes to attend UC Irvine in the fall.

What brought you to Santa Rosa Junior College?

My career of studying abroad started when I transferred from my high school in Japan to one in the US. After graduating high school in Pennsylvania, I found myself unable to decide what to do next, because I had not discovered what I wanted to do for a career in the future. Then I heard that studying at Santa Rosa Junior College in California would be a good idea, because I can discover what I want to study there, and it has a well-established system for transferring students to a broad range of universities. The reason why I chose Santa Rosa Junior College over many other community colleges in California is because SRJC has a relatively smaller ratio of international students. 

SRJC’s small international student ratio was attractive for me because I did not want to go to a community college where a high percentage of all students are international students. When researching community colleges in the US, I found that several have a high proportion of international students. I thought that life at a college where a 30% of students are international would be so boring. I did not want to be surrounded by students who have the same nationality as mine. I know, in such a case, I would spend a lot of time with them just because it is comfortable. I believe, more diversity brings more learning opportunities in life.

Why did you attend ELS?

As I said, I decided to go to community college in California after I graduated high school. It was too late to apply for fall semester at SRJC. Because I was going to have an educational gap from then to the beginning of the spring semester, I decided to go to language school to prepare myself, and that school happened to be ELS, which is located on the SRJC campus. Looking back, I think it provided me a great program for college-level education. It also helped my transition be smoother in terms of housing, climate, and culture. 

What is Your Advice to Other Students who are Considering a US education?

I strongly recommend coming to the USA to study abroad if it is one of your options and financially possible, especially if you have not found what you want to do for living. I was shocked to realize how small my world was before coming to the US. I have met a countless number of people whom I wouldn’t have even seen otherwise. I have encountered various ways of thought and different kinds of people that I couldn’t have if I stayed in a smaller community in Japan. And most importantly, there are by far more kinds of opportunities. Some cool stuff happens outside your comfort zone.