TUFS graduate student wins Bronze Prize in International Student Essay Contest

June 11, 2026

Rebecca Victoria LEVEQUE, a second-year master’s student, won the Bronze Prize in the “2025 International Student Essay Contest” organized by the University Seminar House Foundation.

The title of the winning essay is “Living Together Begins with Dialogue.”

Comments from Ms. Leveque

The theme of this year’s contest was “New Goals Discovered Through Study Abroad Experiences.” However, I did not originally come to Japan as an international student; I initially came to work here and later enrolled in graduate school, which is when I became an “international student.” Therefore, rather than focusing on mere “experiences made possible by coming to Japan,” I deliberately chose to highlight “experiences I could not have had in my previous job and those made possible only by becoming a graduate student,” and wrote about my Japanese language teaching practicum last summer.

As a non-native Japanese speaker with a “non-Japanese” appearance, I sometimes face hurdles in daily life, even though I aspire to work in Japanese language education in Japan. However, through my teaching practicum, I came to strongly realize that the most important thing in being a Japanese language teacher is not one’s “appearance” or “native language,” but rather a willingness to understand learners and fellow teachers (practicum students) and a spirit of compromise.

I would be delighted if you could take a look at my thesis. Drawing on this experience, I intend to continue dedicating myself to research in Japanese language education, starting with the writing of my master’s thesis.

Details about the award winners and Ms. Leveque’s thesis can be found on the University Seminar House official website (2025 International Student Thesis Competition Results) .

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 (This text was translated by AI.)