Nearly one year ago on August 10, 2018, SPICE honored the top three students in the 2018 Reischauer Scholars Program (RSP). The students gave presentations based on their final research papers and were honored by their instructor, Naomi Funahashi. One of the RSP honorees was Stacy Shimanuki, then a senior at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, California. While listening to her impressive presentation on the Pacific War, I recall continually having to remind myself that she was a high school student. After spending a gap year participating in a Mandarin language immersion program in Beijing through the Department of State’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth, Shimanuki is now working at SPICE as a summer intern.

For her internship at Stanford, Shimanuki is undertaking a list of tasks, which is growing steadily given her immense talents. As an RSP alumna and soon-to-be undergraduate student, she brings a unique perspective to SPICE’s work—especially in the area of curriculum development for high school students. Funahashi commented, “It is enormously rewarding to have one of my former students here at SPICE this summer, and I’m thrilled to have her as a colleague. SPICE is fortunate to have not only a brilliant student but also a person with exemplary interpersonal skills and tremendous focus. Stacy’s future is so bright. All of us at SPICE are excited to see the growth in her capacity for leadership in U.S.–Asia relations as she begins her undergraduate career this fall.”

Following her summer internship at SPICE, Shimanuki will be attending the University of Pennsylvania as a Huntsman Scholar. She will be enrolled in the Huntsman Dual-Degree Program for International Studies and Economics through the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Students like her make our work at SPICE incredibly rewarding.