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A Front Row Seat
to Life,  Barbara
Pinto ’86, ABC News

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A Part of the Community

Minori Nagahara heard about Houghton College while she was a student at Christian Academy in Japan. She liked what she heard: small, Christian, liberal arts—the type of college she wanted to attend. Still, for a young woman who had never been away from home for more than two weeks at a time, "coming to Houghton was a leap of faith," she says.

It's a leap that has changed her life, and, in turn, she has affected the lives of her professors and friends here in Houghton. Susan (Gourney '83) Martin, assistant professor of education, says Nagahara—a childhood education major—is "an exceptional student. She is determined and hard working. She soaks in information, processes it, and then applies it to her classroom teaching."

When she's not studying teaching theories and practice, Nagahara volunteers her time at the Houghton Wesleyan Church in children's ministries. That's where she met David and LuAnn (Miller '91) Brubaker '90 and their children. Together, they've grown to be friends, and Nagahara has enjoyed frequent home-cooked meals with the Brubakers.

This relationship, and others like it, has helped Nagahara feel at home even though she's thousands of miles from family. She says, "Feeling a part of the community has helped me adjust to college."