FSM honors student makes history at Sophia U

Association for Promotion of International Cooperation president Peter Yoshiyasu Sato, left, with Sophia University graduate Mary Helen Mori and her father Takeru Mori. Sato held a dinner honoring Mary Helen Mori at the exclusive Tokyo Club. (Nami Kato/APC)

TOKYO, Japan—A 21-year-old Chuukese college senior, who until four years ago had never stepped foot in Japan, graduated this month with honors from Sophia University, the historic Jesuit university in Tokyo that was founded more than 100 years ago.

Mary Helen Mori, who graduated with a 3.44 grade point average, is the first recipient of the “Xavier High School International Students Scholarship” to graduate from the university. The Tokyo-based Association for Promotion of International Cooperation founded the full-ride scholarship program. It is for graduates of Xavier High School in Chuuk who are from the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, and Palau.

“Mary Helen Mori has had an outstanding academic record at Sophia University over these past four years. And she’s been a real leader among the small but growing number of Xavier graduates who are attending Sophia supported by our scholarship,” said APIC president Peter Yoshiyasu Sato.

Mori, who is majoring in anthropology and minoring in political science, earned first honors at Xavier High School, where she graduated with the Class of 2014.

The APIC undergraduate scholarship currently supports six Xavier High School graduates at Sophia University: Risa Mariana Oue, Andrei Miguel Ronquillo, Liana NeiLoria Kozue Preston-Irons, Shaun Mingii, Chloe RoseAnn Arnold, and Paul Charley Jr.

A separate APIC scholarship program, in partnership with Sophia University and the Micronesian Conservation Trust, is currently supporting four Micronesians who are pursuing master’s degrees in environmental studies at the Jesuit university: Tamae Waguk of Kosrae, Lajkit M. Rufus of the Marshall Islands, Bertha Reyuw of Yap, and Bradford Mori of Chuuk. Recipients of APIC’s graduate scholarships do not have to be graduates of Xavier High School.

After participating in Sophia University’s commencement exercises last Sept. 20, Mori will return home to Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia and spend the coming year planning for graduate school. She wants to get a master’s degree in political science.

Mori says her four years in Tokyo have given her the confidence to consider a wide range of opportunities.

“At first I was afraid of the unfamiliar and this experience had taught me to embrace it as it has only made me stronger and [readier] to face other challenges in life,” she said. (PR)