MEDIA RELEASE
FOR
RELEASE: IMMEDIATELY
DATE: April 29, 2007
CONTACT: Kelly
Maloney, (206) 878-3710, ext. 3146
DES
MOINES, Wash. — Highline Community College hosted Japanese TV star and recording
artist Naoko Ken and her husband, Norio Noguchi, a former actor and now Ms.
Ken’s agent, on Thursday, April 19, 2007. The two were in the United States touring the Seattle
area for an upcoming concert Ms. Ken is giving at Benaroya Hall on October 12,
2007, to benefit the Japanese Cultural Center
located in Seattle.
Highline is a co-sponsor of the concert.
Accompanying
the pair were three Japanese delegates who live in the Pacific
Northwest, as well as a five-person camera crew from Ms. Ken’s TV
show. The couple also enjoyed a visit with their son, who is a Highline
student. Several Japanese students recognized Ms. Ken and were thrilled to meet
her. “I never thought that I would see Ken, Naoko here at
HCC! I have known of her since I was a little kid. So for me it was like a
dream that I actually met and talked to her!” said Highline student Yuka Hamada.
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Highline Community College
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“We
are delighted Ms. Ken and Mr. Noguchi chose to spend time on the Highline
campus during their stay in Seattle,”
said interim president Jack Bermingham, Ph.D.
“The visit highlights the
many different international relationships that the college has, and most
importantly, how many of them connect to the local communities we serve.”
It is especially timely in light of Highline’s
recent designation as the Washington state Center of Excellence for International Trade,
Transportation and Logistics.
And,
earlier this year, Highline was one of a consortium of community colleges that were
awarded a major cooperative agreement by the U.S. Department of State to fund
non-traditional international students to attend American community colleges. The
program is an outcome of the Summit on
International Education hosted for U.S. college and university
presidents in January of 2006 by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.
Highline Community College was founded in 1961 as the first
community college in King
County. With approximately
9,500 students and 350,000 alumni, it is one of the state’s largest
institutions of higher education. The college offers a wide range of academic
transfer and professional-technical education programs, with day, evening and
weekend classes. Alumni include former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, entrepreneur
Junki Yoshida and noted author Ann Rule.
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