Following our Grads: Yuichiro Tanaka

Thanks for letting us hear from you, Yuichiro! We are very proud of you. And a few questions:

1. Why was a small high school good for you?
I believe the benefit of learning in a small school is that we have more opportunities to communicate and ask questions to each other. Students often hesitate to speak out in a class because they are too afraid of the attention they get. I have experience learning in a school with a hundred or more students, and I was always afraid of asking questions during a class, eliminating my opportunities to learn. Some people may argue that a small school makes students less active, but in reality, it is the opposite. Less people there are, more opportunities for students.

2. How did a small high school prepare you for your future?
Like I have said, communication skill is the benefit I achieved the most. I am a university student now so this skill is essential because we must be independent and solve problems on our own. Being able to ask questions to professors significantly helped my learnings, allowed me to prepare for any kinds of exams.

3. What did you do after high school?
After high school, I moved to California to attend community college as an international student. I have now transferred to UCSD as a Visual art Studio major, to pursue my dream of becoming a background painter for animation. With COVID-19, my university has switched to full online base courses, therefore I am now attending class over from Japan while doing an internship in an animation background studio.