Japan Storm - Columbia College - Columbia University

AROUND THE QUADS COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
For Katherine Marshall ’12,
thrills often take the form of unconventional
challenges, such
as mastering Japanese as a fifth
language or taking to the skies behind
the controls of a Cessna 172 aircraft.
Marshall, an East Asian languages
and cultures major and licensed pilot,
has accomplished both feats. But while
she knew from a young age that she
wanted to fly a plane — a hobby her
father inspired and cultivated — she
did not foresee her undergraduate career
revolving around a passion for all
things Japanese.
Marshall already was fluent in Spanish
and French and advanced in Italian
when she opted to learn a non-Romance
language as a College first-year,
a decision that set her current
trajectory.
“I wanted to try a more intensive
language at Columbia
and chose Japanese, which was
way more intense than I ever
had imagined,” says Marshall,
for whom acquiring languages
became “addictive” after she
studied in Mexico and France as
a high school student.
In her sophomore year,
Marshall took two courses that
cemented her choice of major:
“Colloquium on Major Texts,
East Asia,” with Paul Anderer,
the Fred and Fannie Mack Professor of
Humanities, and “Millennial Futures:
Mass Culture and Japan,” taught by
associate professor of anthropology
Marilyn Ivy.
“It was language-driven for me, but
then I found that I was fascinated by
Japanese history and Japanese culture,”
Marshall says.
Marshall first traveled to Japan in
summer 2009 as an American delegate
to the Japan-America Student Conference,
a monthlong cultural exchange
program run by the nonprofit International
Student Conferences (iscdc.
org). She returned for the first semester
of her junior year through the Kyoto
Consortium for Japanese Studies Study
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Katherine Marshall ’12 Nurtures Passion for Japanese Culture
B y nat h a l I e a l o n s o ’08
Abroad Program. In Kyoto, she took
courses on language, sociology and religion
and signed up for cooking classes
at a community center. Having stayed
with a local family for part of her first
trip, Marshall lived in an apartment the
second time.
“It is more challenging because you
have to fend for yourself in terms of
getting food, taking yourself to the doctor,
everything,” she explains.
The summer before her semester
abroad, Marshall conducted research
on East Asian economic policy at the
Business School’s Center for Japanese
Economy and Business. Since April, she
has been editor-in-chief of the Columbia
East Asian Review, an undergraduate re-
Katherine Marshall ’12 has used her time in the College to
cultivate her interest in Japan and prepare herself for a business
career.
PHOTO: BARBARA BENTON
search journal that publishes annually.
Her senior thesis examines the evolution
of Japanese fashion from the ’90s to
the present. Colin Jones, Marshall’s thesis
tutor and a Ph.D. candidate in the
history department, notes the discipline
with which Marshall has approached
her project.
“Katy is dedicated to her work and
preternaturally organized,” says Jones.
“Her ability to set deadlines for herself
and to meet those deadlines astonished
me when we met, and it has made
working with her an absolute pleasure.”
Initially inclined to pursue a degree in
business elsewhere, Marshall, who was
born in New York and moved to Minneapolis
with her family when she was 9,
WINTER 2011–12
12
speaks with fervor of the student-led tour
of Columbia’s campus that prompted her
to apply early decision to the College.
“As the tour guide was describing
the Core, I had this epiphany that even if
business was what I wanted to do down
the road, there was still so much I didn’t
know,” recalls Marshall. “It came down
to the Core and being in the city.”
To Marshall’s good fortune, in 2010,
the College introduced a special concentration
in business management.
“It’s exciting to have the ability to fulfill
my intellectual interest in East Asia
and gain more practical knowledge as
well,” she says.
At press time, Marshall had accepted
a post-graduation offer to join the New
York City office of The Boston
Consulting Group, a global management
consulting firm where
she worked last summer.
In her spare time, Marshall
enjoys running, skiing and, of
course, flying. Having flown in
small aircraft for years as a passenger
with her father at the controls,
Marshall became a private
pilot at 17 after logging approximately
60 hours of flight training.
The certification process required
a solo cross-country flight without
a GPS or other modern equipment.
Marshall references the
mixture of trepidation and pride
she experienced when she found herself
in the air alone for the first time.
“I often think about that before exams,”
she says. “You can find it within
yourself to do what you need to do,
even if it is literally life or death.
“That’s why I chose to be a pilot and
why I chose to study Japanese. These
challenges are fun. They are fun to
work through and they are even more
fun when you can look back and say,
‘Wow, I did that.’”
Nathalie Alonso ’08 is a freelance journalist
and an editorial producer at LasMay
ores.com, Major League Baseball’s official
Spanish language website. She also writes a
career blog for women, herfabcareer.com.