Languages

I was honoured to speak with George Takei, who is an amazing activist (as well as being on a little show called Star Trek). He seemed truly surprised to hear me speak Japanese!

George Takei signed my book in Japanese.  It says "Jacqueline, it's so nice to have met you - Takei George." Learning languages has helped me connect with people much more than I expected. One time, a Chinese waitress who struggled with English gave me a big hug after I talked with her in Chinese! 

 Unless you're the ultimate Game of Thrones nerd, you probably don't know his name, but this is David Peterson, the linguist who invented the Dothraki and Valyrian languages. He was very generous with his time and we geeked out about languages for several hours! 

As a kid, I twisted my parents' arms until they found a Japanese teacher for me. I would blast Sumi with so many questions she could barely get through a lesson, but she didn't seem to mind and encouraged and supported my love and passion for learning the language. I used to sneak into Oldenborg at Pomona College whenever possible to practice at the language tables and now I live there and am taking advanced Japanese!

I was invited to present my Silver Award project to Jane Goodall in San Francisco, and later received a $200 mini-grant from her youth organization. 

I actually ran into her again in Windsor England just by chance!

 I started Scouts in 2010 as a brownie and earned the Presidential Volunteer Award in 2015 from President Obama, as well as the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards.  

I went to Hollywood to be on a show called FabLab on Channel 11  and couldn’t believe that the interviewer was someone I knew and had just seen at a 4/7 event at Pomona College, Madison Vorva!

I made a lot of friends and earned a lot of camp funds by selling cookies each year.