Employee Giving Opens Doors for RCCD Students Studying Abroad in Tokyo

08/24/2026

Thirty-nine students from Riverside City College, Norco College and Moreno Valley College were welcomed home Aug. 19 after spending six weeks studying, working and living in Tokyo. They returned to the Riverside Community College District with new professional experience, friendships and perspectives shaped by their time in Japan.

For 14 of those students, the trip was made possible in part because RCCD employees chose to give. Each received a $500 scholarship funded through employee giving, helping students take part in an experience many might otherwise have considered out of reach.

At a welcome home reception, students reflected on what they learned during the program and thanked the employees and other supporters whose contributions helped get them there. Their stories showed that the value of study abroad extended well beyond seeing another country. Students described becoming more independent, adapting to unfamiliar situations, developing professional skills and gaining a better understanding of themselves and the world around them.

RCCD Chancellor Wolde-Ab Isaac, Ph.D., told students and donors gathered at the reception that he understood what it meant to leave what was familiar behind.

“When you move to another country, you learn very quickly that things do not always work the way you expect them to,” Isaac said. “You have to listen. You have to observe. You have to adjust.”

Isaac cited research showing that students who study abroad tend to graduate at higher rates, post stronger GPAs and earn more in their first jobs than peers who do not, in some cases by more than $4,000 in their first year. But he told the room that those numbers were not the reason to support opportunities like this.

“I want you to look around tonight and see what your support made possible,” he said. “It is not a spreadsheet. It is standing in front of you.”

Norco College President Monica Green, Ed.D., described the collective effort behind sending students abroad more simply.

“It takes a whole village to get our students here,” Green said.

That village showed itself in the students’ own words.

Colin, an English major, said the experience gave him a new perspective on the world and hopes more RCCD students will have the opportunity to study abroad.

“I feel like I have grown several times as a person since starting the trip and coming back home with a new perspective on life, as well as how I regard the world around me,” he said.

For Maya, a sociology major, being immersed in a culture and language different from her own taught her to become comfortable not having all the answers.

“I think it’s important to make yourself uncomfortable and allow yourself to be the dumbest person in the room sometimes and not really understand the language or what’s going on,” she said.

That discomfort eventually became confidence. When Maya’s family visited Japan for a week, she was able to navigate the subway and show them around the city, something she said would not have felt possible before the trip.

The program paired that personal growth with academic and professional experience. Students completed internships throughout Tokyo in fields including education, photography, videography, marketing, website development, translation and instructional technology. They also completed a 3-unit kinesiology course, KIN-4, “Nutrition,” applying what they learned in class to their daily lives in Japan, including comparisons of portion sizes and eating practices such as hara hachi bu, often translated as eating until about 80% full.

Outside the classroom, students took part in a traditional tea ceremony and visited the UNESCO World Heritage site in Nikko. Five students also spent a weekend homestay in Sendai, Riverside’s sister city in Japan.

Tanya Brown, associate professor of kinesiology and health science and the program’s faculty adviser, said she watched students grow more confident as they adjusted to life and work in an unfamiliar environment.

“I was extremely proud of the resilience they showed throughout their internships, and it was great to see the connections they made and how they became more confident in themselves and the work they were doing,” Brown said.

For Landon, a nursing major, the internship experience offered a preview of professional life.

“Even though, yes, it is working in a different country, it is working in general and having that early-on internship experience while still in college,” Landon said. “It is more beneficial, and it is surely a sneak peek into a professional career.”

The Tokyo program offered a different way to think about philanthropy. RCCD employees contributed what they could, helping 14 students take part in an experience that challenged them academically, professionally and personally.

“There are other RCCD students who have the ability, the curiosity and the ambition to study abroad,” Isaac said. “Some simply need someone to help make the opportunity possible.”

Published by External Relations & Strategic Communications