{"id":2263,"date":"2025-04-29T13:32:24","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T17:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vagovernorsschool.com\/JapaneseAcademy\/?page_id=2263"},"modified":"2026-10-12T14:29:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T18:29:26","slug":"the-2026-team","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vagovernorsschool.com\/JapaneseAcademy\/the-2026-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Team 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Kyle Maclauchlan\u00a0
Academy Director<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hello, everyone! I’m sure you are excited to join this year’s Japanese Academy, and we are all excited to meet you. My name is Kyle Maclauchlan. I lived in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan for 11 years. Now, I want to share my love of Japan with students here in my home state of Virginia. I hope that the academy will encourage and empower you as you experience Japan’s language and culture.\u00a0
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While in Japan, I taught English at Miyagi Gakuin University, became a nationally recognized author, and was the first English speaking radio announcer for Japanese Professional Baseball. My hobbies were singing in a rock band, playing flute in the suzume odori festival, and eating as many kinds of ramen as I could find. Every day in Japan, I felt that speaking the language opened doors to wonderful opportunities for me- chances to try new things, go to new places, learn fascinating information, and meet amazing people. I hope I can now hand the key to those doors to our Academy students.\u00a0
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Currently, I teach Japanese at Randolph-Macon College, run a business called Adore Japan, and I direct Suzume Bachi, the only Suzume Odori festival team outside Japan! Our students recently performed at the Sakura Matsuri festival in Washington, D.C. — we’re having a lot of fun sharing Miyagi’s festival culture here in the U.S.! While back in the states, I have also become a really big fan of origami!\u00a0
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There is a saying in Okinawan dialect: \u3044\u3061\u3083\u308a\u3070\u3061\u3087\u30fc\u3067\u30fc\uff01 It means, “Meet once, and we are family.”\u00a0 I hope that our time together in the academy will offer us all an opportunity to build bonds of friendship. After all, that is what language is all about – building bridges through communication and understanding.\u00a0
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Once again, welcome to the academy!\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Sana Vien\u00a0
Lead Teacher<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u3053\u3093\u306b\u3061\u306f\uff01 Hello, I hope everyone is excited for this year’s academy!\u00a0
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My name is Sana Vien, and I will be this year’s beginner class teacher and Lead Teacher. I’ve been a part of the Virginia Governor’s Japanese academy six times, as a student, Resident Advisor, and now as a teacher.\u00a0
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My Japanese journey started when I was toddler and my family was deployed to Camp Zama. My family was gently influenced by the culture and brought some of it back to the States, and I grew more curious as I got older. I started learning the Japanese language in high school (partially influenced by all of the X Japan concert videos my mom showed me) and attended the University of Virginia studying Japanese Language and Literature and Biology. \u00a0
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Currently, I work as a retail manager for the Coast Guard Exchange System, Semper Paratus, and while I don’t have the opportunity to use Japanese in my work, I still seek ways to keep it influencing my life. I listen to J-Rock and VIsual Kei almost everyday. My top three right now are Buck-Tick, MUCC, and X Japan. I also enjoy exploring traditional and modern literature; some Edogawa Ranpo, Junichiro Tanizaki, and Akutagawa. Lately, I’ve been intrigued by more visual horror mediums like Junji Ito’s manga and youkai depictions from the Yumoto Koichi Collection. \u00a0
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I hope to share some of my interests and passions with all of you this summer!\u00a0
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Rie Hashimoto Bailey\u00a0
Teacher<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u307f\u306a\u3055\u3093\u3001\u304a\u3081\u3067\u3068\u3046\u3054\u3056\u3044\u307e\u3059\uff01\uff08Congratulations\uff01\uff09\uff06\u3088\u3046\u3053\u305d\uff08Welcome\uff09Virginia Governor’s Language Academy\u3078!!\u00a0
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My name is Rie Hashimoto Bailey (\u7406\u7d75\u30fb\u6a4b\u672c\u30fb\u30d9\u30a4\u30ea\u30fc).\u00a0 I am from Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.\u00a0 This is my 5th year to be an advanced class teacher.\u00a0 I am from a little different background than other SENSEI & SENPAI in this academy.\u00a0 I have a wide range of career backgrounds.\u00a0
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I am a REIKI Master and Teacher for more than half of my life and I’m an Eastern medicine practitioner.\u00a0
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I also trained in SHODO-Japanese calligraphy since I was 7 years old (because I was left-handed, my parents wanted to fix my hand habit, so, they put me in the school), and I hold a 7th-DAN degree in art.\u00a0 I won awards and had an exhibition at an art gallery in WA!\u00a0\u00a0 I have been teaching SHODO at Japanese martial arts Dojo in Pennsylvania.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0
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When I graduated high school, I attended a professional international tourism college in Japan and the U.S.\u00a0 After graduation, I was an international travel coordinator and traveled all over the world.\u00a0 (That’s when I met my husband in Guam).\u00a0 Since then, we lived in Spain, Washington State, Italy, and now Pennsylvania. (I speak Japanese, English, Spanish & Italian).\u00a0
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I always have passion for sharing my heritage of Japan with others.\u00a0 I am very excited and happy to be part of “Virginia Governor’s Language Academy” as one of the SENSEI this summer!\u00a0 Because of my background, I hope you FEEL a “SENSE OF JAPAN” that uses all 5 senses within you with the “FACE TO FACE” session through this program!\u00a0
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Let’s begin to have lots of FUN together!!\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Joey Upadhyay\u00a0
Teacher<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hi everyone!!! My name is Joey Upadhyay and I’m super excited to meet all of you!\u00a0
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I am originally from Colonial Heights, Virginia, and I recently moved to Greensboro North Carolina to work as a Japanese \u21d4 English interpreter and translator for CSI Group, supporting a large Japanese automotive manufacturer. Before moving to North Carolina, I lived In Shizuoka, Japan for two years. As it is famous for Mt. Fuji, wasabi, and oden, I had a wonderful time!\u00a0
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I started studying Japanese when I was in elementary school because I was taking karate classes, and the more I learned the language and about the culture, the more enthralled I became. I participated in GJA in 2018 as a student in the intermediate class, and came back as a TA in 2020 and 2021. In 2022 and 2023, I came to teach the beginner class. After a two year hiatus when I was in Japan, I’m unimaginably excited to come back as a teacher again this year!\u00a0
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The reason I am passionate about GJA is because I was able to make deep connections with my peers, as well as with Japan. I hope that I can help provide the same opportunities to more students. I am still friends with several of my peers from 2018, and I would have never met them without having attended GJ<\/p>\n\t

Lauren Cook\u00a0
Lead Resident Assistant<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hi friends! This is my first year participating in the Academy, and I hope you’re looking forward to it as much as me! My name is Lauren Cook, and I am a very recent graduate from The College of William & Mary with a degree in Japanese Studies and a minor in Anthropology. I’ve always loved Japanese culture since I was a kid because of Pokemon. \u00a0
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I appreciate a variety of Japanese things from anime, video games, cosplay, J-fashion (especially gyaru) and more – I promise if it’s Japanese, we can chat about it!\u00a0
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I studied abroad in Japan for 6 months in Kanagawa prefecture, as well as worked as an intern for the International Academic Forum for the Asian Conference on Education in 2024. I also just had the wonderful opportunity to return to Japan this May to reunite with many classmates post graduation.\u00a0
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This year, I’ll be the lead Resident Assistant. Together, let’s make your memories of the Governor’s Academy wonderful. \u00a0
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\u307e\u305f\u306d\uff01 See you soon!\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Gracie Byron\u00a0
Resident Assistant<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u3053\u3093\u306b\u3061\u308f\u307f\u306a\u3055\u3093\uff01(Hello everyone) My name is Gracie Byron, and I am going into my Junior year at Virginia Tech. I am majoring in International Studies with a minor in Japanese. Some of my hobbies include: drumming with my band, boxing, reading manga, and building gunpla kits! In addition to English and a little Japanese, I also speak Spanish. \u00a0
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I attended the academy in 2023 and am excited to be coming back as an RA this year. I have fond memories of the academy, and I still keep in contact with everyone I met that summer! \u00a0
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I hope you all are looking forward to a wonderful experience, and I can’t wait to meet everyone!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Any Pacheco\u00a0
Resident Assistant<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u3053\u3093\u306b\u3061\u306f\u3001\u307f\u306a\u3055\u3093\uff01My name is Any Pacheco, and I’m a rising senior at the University of Virginia majoring in Computer Engineering with a minor in Japanese. I’m also fluent in Spanish since my family is from Honduras.\u00a0
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I attended the Governor’s Japanese Academy in 2022, and it honestly became one of the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had. I was already interested in Japanese before attending, but the academy made me love the language and culture even more. I met amazing people, made friendships that lasted long after the summer ended, and made memories I still think about all the time. Coming back now as an RA feels really special to me, and I’m excited to be part of the academy again this summer.\u00a0
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At UVA, I’ve gotten to work on a lot of fun projects, from building websites and apps to making circuits in my engineering classes, and I was also a teaching assistant for Digital Logic Design. I also do color guard in the Cavalier Marching Band, and one of my favorite things is going to football games and cheering on the team. In my free time, I enjoy reading books and manga, watching anime, listening to music, and playing video games. Some of my favorite foods are fruit with Taj\u00edn, pupusas, and ramen!\u00a0
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I’m really excited to meet everyone this summer and talk with you all! \u697d\u3057\u307f\u306b\u3057\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\uff01\u00a0ne!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kyle Maclauchlan\u00a0Academy Director Hello, everyone! I’m sure you are excited to join this year’s Japanese Academy, and we are all … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2263","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vagovernorsschool.com\/JapaneseAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vagovernorsschool.com\/JapaneseAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vagovernorsschool.com\/JapaneseAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vagovernorsschool.com\/JapaneseAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vagovernorsschool.com\/JapaneseAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2263"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/www.vagovernorsschool.com\/JapaneseAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2960,"href":"https:\/\/www.vagovernorsschool.com\/JapaneseAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2263\/revisions\/2960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vagovernorsschool.com\/JapaneseAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}