Dexter High School Student Achieves Dream

On April 1, when most seniors will be wrapping up their last few months in school, senior Julia Murphy will have already graduated and will be on her way to Tokyo.

The 17-year-old Scio Township resident has been a fan of the Japanese language and culture since her elementary school years, when she first enjoyed watching Pokémon and other anime television shows. In seventh grade, she began taking Japanese language lessons, and it has certainly paid off. Last spring, she won a state high school Japanese language speech competition in Novi.

"Julia felt that she needed the challenge to get closer to her goal of studying in a college in Japan," Japanese language teacher Kaori Ohara said. "She worked hard on her speech, and once it was accepted to be presented in the final round, she said to me, 'I want to win the contest.'

"That is the moment that I realized how special Julia is," Ohara said. "She knows what she wants for her future, and she is determined to get to her goal, no matter how long it takes or how much work it involves."

In addition to her years of studying the language, Julia said that her ability to speak and understand Japanese was greatly increased when she participated in an exchange program for six months during her sophomore year of high school. She lived with a family and attended school in Tokyo.

"If I hadn't gone there, I wouldn't be able to speak like I do," Julia said. "I liked living in a city and having everything so close. It felt like I had so much more freedom."

She also enjoyed the food and the culture of Japan, but she found the transition back to Dexter a little difficult.

"It was much quieter when I came back to Dexter," Julia said. "There was so much to do in Tokyo, like karaoke theme parks, movies, stores everywhere and Disney."

Julia's mother, Lisa, said her daughter always wanted to visit Japan, and she said that being able to study in the country is an exciting opportunity.

"I admire Julia for not being afraid to travel to another country and want something like that," Murphy said. "I can't help her because I can't read anything in Japanese."

This year, Julia applied to the University of Japan. Although she was not accepted to the college, which begins in April, she will pursue her goal by attending a language school in Japan.

"I'm still on the Japanese schedule because I'm 17, and that gives me an extra year before college," she said. "Most of the foreign students I'll be going to school with are from Korea, Taiwan and China. I'll be starting a college prep course in July."

Julia plans to apply to several colleges while living in Japan and hopes to study sociology.

"I like studying other cultures," she said.

"In the Japanese culture, people don't like to be impolite, but that makes it hard to tell if people are being sincere," she said. "I really want to use the Japanese language, but I don't know if I want to live there after college."