Rei Anno
Class of 2011
Nationality: Japan
Running for Vice President
Konnichiwa to everyone who is reading this; my name is Rei Anno, and I am a sophomore student from Japan. Some of you may recognize me as the one who was running around backstage, sometimes frantically, during the ISO’s annual Cultural Show.
As a freshman I was mesmerized by the cultural show – music from around the world, exotic costumes, and hilarious skits – it was easily my favorite event of the year. I applied to be on the Cultural Show Committee because I wanted to not simply participate in the show, but to be part of it from the organizing process. And I must say, it was a lot of work. Many meetings, panicky e-mails between committee members, and of course, running around backstage. But I loved every minute of it. I’m proud of the show we put on, and grateful to everyone who took part in it and made it the amazing show that it was. Hopefully, the show was as wonderful an experience to all of you as it was for me.
However, being a member of the board and attending weekly meetings made me realize that ISO is so much more than the cultural show. We offer varieties of other events, symposiums, parties, and the soccer tournament, that may not be as widely attended as the cultural show. Difficult issues have come up in the meetings, such as more integration among international students and American students, better involvement of the student body, international and Americans alike, for our events, and questions about having opening and closed board meetings, just to name a few.
ISO is a great organization that provides international students with support and the college with dynamic diversity, but there are still many problems that need to be tackled. As Vice President I hope to help the ISO cope with these issues and become an even better, and more inclusive organization. I believe that my past year experience as a member of the ISO board will help me in doing so.
(By the way Konnichiwa is hello in Japanese.)
