Adam White of Henrico heading (back) to Japan

2012 Aug 30

Deep Run High School graduate Adam White will be heading to Japan on Monday, Sept. 3, to begin eight months of intensive Japanese language study. His travel, tuition and other expenses are being funded by a $20,000 Boren Scholarship.

The scholarship, awarded to students studying languages and other disciplines deemed critical to U.S. national security, is new for White. Traveling to Japan is not.

A sophomore international affairs major at James Madison University, White just returned from another six-month stint in Japan, where he was learning Japanese and how to teach English in a program called International Village Study Abroad. That program, taught at Nagasaki Junior College in Sasebo, Japan, started in February and ended in mid-August.

White's first trip to Japan was in summer 2008, before starting his senior year of high school. He spent three weeks touring the country and was involved in a 10-day exchange program as part of the U.S. High School Diplomats program.

White will continue to study in Asia next fall when he heads to Kyung Hee University in South Korea on a scholarship from the International Network of Universities.

White said his career goal is to work for the U.S. government, ideally doing service in East Asia. He will do his Boren Scholarship study at Nanzan University in Nagoya, about 220 miles southwest of Tokyo.

To arrange an interview with White, contact Eric Gorton at gortonej@jmu.edu or 540-568-3674.