East Asian Studies Major Jobs 2018

East Asian Studies

East Asian Studies

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Leigh Parrott

Major: East Asian studies, English
Hometown: Abington, Pennsylvania
Employer: Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program
Job title: assistant language teacher

Job Responsibilities

I will be responsible for helping educate Japanese primary school students in English language and in fostering Japanese and American cultural exchange in Japan.

How has Dickinson prepared you for your future?

Thanks to my dual degree and liberal-arts education, I hope to approach my own students with a similarly well-rounded education. I want them to be able to see the connections between what they're learning in my classroom and its applications in their lives outside of school. I owe a lot to my Japanese professors in particular for giving me the linguistic confidence I need to live abroad for the next year, as well.

What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?

First is my time abroad, both in Nagoya, Japan, and Poznan, Poland. The former was my semesterlong study abroad, which changed me perhaps more than any other life experience I've had, and the latter was an incredible trip I was privileged enough to take with Professor Blanka Bednarz to play with a professional orchestra in Poland. Second only to these experiences was my involvement with Dickinson's Department of Physics and Astronomy. I am lucky enough to currently be the vice president of the Astronomy Club and a planetarium TA in spite of my dual humanities degree, and I have had wonderful mentors in professors Windsor Morgan, Laura Watson and Robert Boyle, who have encouraged me to pursue my interest in the astronomical fields after my graduation. There are many more defining moments, but these two are likely among the most defining experiences I've had here at Dickinson.

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Published April 9, 2018