Two Wednesday nights each month, senior Ren Kato takes a break from his responsibilities as a business administration student, private wealth management intern, resident assistant, senior week committee finance co-chair and vice president of External Relations for the Beta Alpha Psi Honor Society to lead a group of students in activities like folding origami and bean throwing. As the co-founder and president of the Japanese Learning Club, Kato leads these bimonthly meetings with the hope of teaching fellow students about Japanese culture and language.
Kato, an international student from Tokyo, Japan, founded the Japanese Learning Club in Fall 2024.
Kato said he noticed that several students were interested in learning Japanese but didn’t have access to learning resources at the college. Kato said students have to travel to Cornell University to take a Japanese language course — since Ithaca College does not offer any — which can be complex to schedule and coordinate travel. He wanted to provide a space for students to learn more about Japan — and for Japanese students to bond over their shared culture.
“Compared to other countries, like India, China, which has a lot of international populations [at the college], I know there’s only two … people [who are] from Japan right now,” Kato said. “Finding a connection in my own culture was hard here … [so] I wanted to make a kind of Japanese community.”
Kato said he has enjoyed seeing how some Japanese American students who grew up in the U.S. and want to have a deeper connection to Japan have joined the club and connected with new community members.
First-year student Daichi Kutsuma co-founded the Japanese Learning Club with Kato and now serves as a language instructor in the club. Kutsuma, who is also an international student from Japan, said he is grateful for how Kato has helped him meet other students and feel more at home at IC.
“As a freshman international student, I was feeling a bit excluded, in a sense, so it was very … reassuring [and] encouraging [to meet another student from Japan],” Kutsuma said. “[He] has multiple similar experiences and background so we don’t really struggle with understanding each other.”
Kato said he has lived through the frustrations of being an international student — like adjusting to American food, cultural differences between the U.S. and Japan, and speaking and learning at the college almost solely in English. Kato said he now enjoys helping other international students find their community and support system at the college.
Kato also helps underclassmen adjust to college life. He worked as an RA for Lower Quads for two years and now works as an RA in Upper Terraces.
Carly Dudek, residence director for Upper Terraces, said the most important job RAs have is to build community through making the building feel safe, giving their residents academic or social advice and connecting their residents with on-campus groups and resources. Dudek said Kato is a strong role model and supporter for his residents.
“He has a sort of quiet leadership about him, where he doesn’t want to be the center of attention,” Dudek said. “But when [I] get talking to him, I’m like, ‘Wow, you really know your stuff, you really know your residents in and out, and you’re really a quite thoughtful and resilient person.’”
Outside of his work as an RA, Kato also works to build community by serving as the vice president of External Relations for Beta Alpha Psi, an international honor and service society for accounting, finance and business analytics students.
In this role, Kato coordinates and publicizes professional development events like speaker series, networking events and career workshops. Kato also helps plan the chapter’s community service initiatives, like collecting book drives and clothing drives, cooking and baking for homeless shelters and volunteering at the ReUse Center.
Margaret Shackell, associate professor in the Department of Accounting and Business Law and director of Graduate Business programs, serves as the faculty adviser to Beta Alpha Psi. Shackell said Kato is an enthusiastic and driven leader in the chapter, and his hard work and dedication to helping others has made a deep impact on Ithaca and Ithaca College communities.
“A lot of times we would think of that [altruism] as helping people who need food or clothes or things like that, but really he’s helping the School of Business students significantly by organizing these events where they can connect with people in business and make their network bigger,” Shackell said. “He is going places. I’ll be excited to see where his career takes him.”
As Kato prepares to graduate, he said he hopes to get a job in wealth management, potentially as a financial adviser.
“I’m looking for … [a job] that I can engage with a customer closely and help out people,” Kato said. “It’s just [an] essential part of me to meet with people [and] help out people.”
Dudek said Kato’s passion for helping people is evident in everything he does.
“Truly everything he brings to the table, he brings fully of his own volition and out of a place of sincerity for truly wanting to make an impact on other people,” Dudek said. “It is not about any kind of praise or accolades or resume building for him. … It is truly about just doing the right thing by his community.”
This student profile was written for publication in the 2024-25 Year in Review.
