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Hard work pays
off for Zombori
By Melissa Anderson
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
Andor Zombori,
a junior at Cal State Long Beach, has been studying Japanese
for three years. His studying and dedication has earned him
the Freeman Scholarship, which allows him to study abroad
in Osaka, Japan.
Zombori was awarded
the $7,000 scholarship to study at Osaka Gakuin University
after filling out an online application.
"I applied
back in about April, I also had to write a few sentences about
what kind of volunteer work I will do after I get back,"
Zombori said. "I will promote international studies.
I will probably write articles for local newspapers and lecture
on campus at CSULB."
Zombori has a 3.96
grade point average, and is planning to get his bachelor's
degree in Japanese and a minor in international studies. After
graduating he hopes to work with an international business
in the U.S., or for an embassy in Japan.
Zombori leaves
for Osaka in September and will return in July. During his
stay in Japan he will have to stay with a total of three different
families. This will not be his first adventure to Japan; he
visited there for two and a half weeks in 1997.
"I went there
for sightseeing and to see the culture," Zombori said.
Zombori said that
he has always been interested in linguistics, and chose to
study Japanese because it seemed like a challenge.
"I am able
to understand the language, but I want to learn to read it
and speak it fluently," Zombori said. "When I get
back from Japan I want to be able to speak Japanese fluently.
It is harder to read and write, it takes years to master the
Japanese language."
Zombori came to
the United States in 1992, and lived in Pennsylvania with
his mother, who still resides there. Zombori has taken Open
University courses since 1997 and transferred to CSULB in
spring 2001.
After enrolling
at CSULB, Zombori joined the Japan Club.
"We are trying
to get Japanese and non-Japanese students together to promote
Japanese culture," Zombori said. "We also tutor
non-Japanese speakers."
The Japan Club,
which presently consists of 25-30 members, is always accepting
others who are interested in joining, to learn more about
the language and the culture. According to Zombori, the club
also hosts guest speakers from various businesses such as
the Wold Trade Center and Toyota.
Miho Shirakawa,
president of the Japan Club, felt that Zombori deserved the
scholarship.
"He has been
studying Japanese very hard, and deserves the scholarship,
Shirakawa said. "He was one of the people that set up
the tutoring for non-Japanese speaking students. He has been
working all summer to set that up."
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