Valerie, like many of us, stepped into her small JET town where she often heard students muttering “I can’t read this!” “This is Japan, I don’t know why we’re learning English.” But what she was able to create with a microgrant from USJETAA was nothing less than a reading revolution in her community of students. Want the full JET ALT warm fuzzies? Read her story!

USJETAA’s Bobby Nawbary took some time to hear how current JET, Michelle Barajas Perez, found herself making sugar skulls with her students in Japan. Michelle’s path to Japan was not typical. With roots in small-town, rural California, her hometown of Los Banos is not a town where its people venture far from in their lives.

If there is one constant within the JET experience, it is the feeling of community. No matter where JETs are placed throughout Japan, if asked about their favorite aspects of the program, you’ll often hear this. But even within the JET Program, community can have many different meanings. Community can be a JET’s placement or small town. It can be their school and the teachers they work with. And, it can be the other JETs in their area. When the JET community enhances the local community, the program is at its best.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.