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Kyle Maclauchlan
Academy Director Hello, everyone! I’m sure you are excited to join this year’s Japanese Academy, and we are all excited to meet you. My name is Kyle Maclauchlan. I lived in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan for 11 years. Now, I want to share my love of Japan with students here in my home state of Virginia. I hope that the academy will encourage and empower you as you experience Japan’s language and culture. While in Japan, I taught English at Miyagi Gakuin University, became a nationally recognized author, and was the first English speaking radio announcer for Japanese Professional Baseball. My hobbies were singing in a rock band, playing flute in the suzume festival, and eating as many kinds of ramen as I could find. Every day in Japan, I felt that speaking the language opened doors to wonderful opportunities for me– chances to try new things, go to new places, learn fascinating information, and meet amazing people. There is a saying in Okinawan dialect: いちゃりばちょーでー！ It means, “Meet once, and we are family.” I hope that our time together in the academy will offer us all an opportunity to build bonds of friendship. After all, that is what language is all about – building bridges through communication and understanding. Once again, welcome to the academy! |
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Rie Hashimoto Bailey
Teacher みなさん、おめでとうございます！（Congratulations！）＆ようこそ（Welcome）the Virginia Governor’s Language Academyへ!! My name is Rie Hashimoto Bailey (理絵・橋本・ベイリー). I am from Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. This is my 3rd year to be an advanced class teacher. I have a little different background than other SENSEI & SENPAI in this academy. I have a wide range of career backgrounds. I am a REIKI Master and Teacher for more than half of my life and I’m an Eastern medicine practitioner. When I graduated high school, I attended a professional international tourism college in Japan and the U.S. After graduation, I was an international travel coordinator and traveled all over the world. (That’s when I met my husband in Guam). Since then, we have lived in Spain, Washington State, Italy, and now Pennsylvania. (I speak Japanese, English, Spanish & Italian). I trained in SHODO-Japanese calligraphy for 9+ years (because I was left-handed, my parents wanted to fix my hand habit, so, they put me in the school), and I hold a 7th-DAN degree in art. I won awards and had an exhibition at an art gallery in WA! I have been teaching SHODO at a Japanese martial arts Dojo in Pennsylvania. I have been one of the staff of the U.S. ARMY War College International Fellow’s program for the last 13 years. I always enjoy making new friends from all over the world! I am also an assistant Scoutmaster of Boy Scouts of America in Pennsylvania and Italy. I have always enjoyed working with young people as well. I always have passion for sharing my heritage of Japan with others. I am very excited and happy to be part of “Virginia Governor’s Language Academy” as one of the SENSEI this summer! Because of my background, I hope you FEEL a “SENSE OF JAPAN” that uses all 5 senses within you with the “FACE TO FACE” sessions through this program! Let’s have many days full of FUN together!! |
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Sana Vien
Teacher Hello everybody! I hope everyone is excited for this year’s Japanese Academy. My name is Sana Vien. Currently, I am a sales manager for the Coast Guard Exchange System - Semper Paratus! Some of my interests include reading, listening to J-Rock/J-Metal, and watching video essays/documentaries. I’m going to be the teacher for the intermediate class this year. I started studying Japanese in high school and continued at the University of Virginia, majoring in Japanese Language & Literature and Biology. In 2018, I was a student of the academy and then I came back as a staff member in 2020, 2021, and taught the beginner class in 2022. よろしくお願いします! |
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Kristie Throckmorton
Teacher Assistant こんにちは! はじめまして、クリスティです。Hello Everyone! I’m Kristie and I am going to be one of the teaching assistants for the beginning class this year! I am so excited to work alongside Emily and Hanako Sensei to guide you all on your Japanese language and culture journey! I am a new graduate from R-MC with a double major in Arts Management (Music) and Asian Studies with a minor in Japanese Studies. I have grown up constantly around music and it is one of my greatest passions. I play multiple instruments and I absolutely love to listen to all genres of music! I’m excited to share some of my favorite Japanese songs with you all! My other passion is language! I studied Spanish in middle and high school and fell in love with learning languages. I began to study multiple languages on my own since then and I am now able to speak at a beginning-intermediate level of multiple languages. I enjoy east asian languages the most though! In my junior year at R-MC, I studied abroad at Yonsei University in South Korea and after our academy this year I will be moving back to become an English teacher! Some of my hobbies include drinking insane amounts of coffee and adding sound effects to things! I am thrilled to be a part of this year's academy and I am looking forward to helping everyone learn Japanese and to learn from you all as well! |
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Emily Argust
Teacher Assistant 皆さんこんにちは！初めまして！My name is Emily Argust and I am going to be one of your TAs for this year's Governor's Japanese Academy! I have been an RA the last two years at academy so I am excited to be returning this year as well. I recently graduated early from RMC with a double major in Archaeology and Asia Studies as well as double minors in Japanese and Studio Art. I’m sure you could tell by the Studio Art minor, but I love art. Painting and photography are my favorite mediums. I also love learning about history so if you are a history buff come talk to me about it! I always love sharing knowledge on archaeology. I have been studying Japanese for about three and a half years and have learned and seen a lot thanks to my study abroad in Osaka, Japan in spring of 2023. I look forward to meeting everyone and learning and sharing experiences with one another about Japan and its culture. Let’s all work hard and have a good time! |
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Hanako Niimi
Teacher Assistant 初めまして！My name is Aislinn Hanako Niimi, and I will be a Teaching Assistant at the Japanese Academy this summer, teaching the Beginner class. I just graduated from Washington and Lee University with a double major in Japanese and Classics, and a minor in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies. I am hoping to pursue a masters in Japanese next year. I study chanoyu, which is the Japanese tea ceremony, and I am excited to share that at the Academy. I love reading books, watching anime, listening to J-pop (talk to me about Kenshi Yonezu), crafting, and cosplay. I was an RA at the Academy two years ago and had such a memorable time, so I'm excited to return to the Academy this year to meet new students. よろしくお願いします！ |
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Lauryn McMeans
Resident Assistant こんにちは！はじめまして。My name is Lauryn, and I will be one of your RAs as well as an assistant in Rie Sensei’s Advanced Japanese class. I was a student at this same language academy back in 2018, so I have experienced similar excitement and nervousness that comes with this new experience you all will have in June. I also had the privilege of working at the Japanese Academy last summer, and I promise - you will be okay, and will have a wonderful experience! I began studying Japanese as a student of the GJA and continued throughout college - and I’m still learning, just on my own now! I graduated from Randolph-Macon College last spring, with a Studio Art major and Biology and Japanese Studies minors. During my fourth year, after covid regulations finally lifted, I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad for a semester in Osaka prefecture, where I met our other RA, Nick! I would be so excited to share stories about my experience in Japan with you all (I love talking about it)! I am also a future English Assistant Language Teacher in Japan next Spring. My hobbies include many artistic things such as drawing, painting, and ceramics, and I also enjoy staying active by biking, weight training, and hiking. I have loved Japanese culture since I was a kid, and I enjoy things like Studio Ghibli, Sanrio, and visual kei bands like The Gazette and Dir En Grey. I am so excited for this year's academy and having the pleasure to work with you all! I hope to make this learning experience a very positive one! |
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Nick Webster
Resident Assistant こんにちは、 I am Nick Webster. I am from Mount Pleasant, Michigan and I am a Resident Assistant at the Japanese Academy. I will also be assisting with the intermediate Japanese class and am very excited to do so. A little bit about myself is that I love video games, comics, and Japanese. I have been studying Japanese for four years now and am excited to further grow my use of the language while helping the students grow as well. I am excited to meet all of you this summer and cannot wait to begin being your RA. よろしくおねがいします |
