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RELEASED: June 27, 2002
DANVILLE, KY-Spring graduates Dana Settles and Andrew Rafferty will travel to Japan later this summer to begin a one-year teaching program.
Settles and Rafferty were selected to teach English as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme.
The JET Programme aims to promote internationalization at the local level by inviting young overseas graduates to assist in international exchange and foreign language education in local governments, boards of education and junior and senior high schools throughout Japan. It seeks to foster ties between Japanese citizens (mainly youth) and JET participants at the one-to-one level.
"I'm really excited about this program," said Settles, who graduated with a double-major in anthropology/sociology and art history. "It's a fantastic opportunity."
Settles will be teaching in Daito-Cho, Japan — just northwest of Hiroshima.
Settles, a graduate of Boyle County High School, will leave for Japan in late July and begins teaching in September. She'll work mainly with junior high students.
Rafferty, an Owensboro native who earned a degree in psychobiology, also will teach in Japan this summer.
The recruitment and selection of JET Programme participants is conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is based on guidelines set by the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, and Posts and Telecommunications. (The number of participants from each country is determined according to the needs of the local governments in negotiation with the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, and Posts and Telecommunications.)
Settles said her previous overseas journeys as a Centre student gave her an advantage in the interview process. Centre has a nationally recognized study-abroad program that ranks in the country's top 10 in percentage of students who participate.
"They were really interested in my study-abroad experiences," said Settles, who studied in Ecuador as a sophomore and the South Seas islands earlier this year.
For more on the JET Programme, visit www.jetprogramme.org/.
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