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UNO alumnus receives scholarship for Japanese graduate program

As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” For Jorge Nieto, this quote rings particularly true when reflecting on his path to academic success.

Had you told 16-year-old Nieto he’d be awarded the Partner Universities Nomination Scholarship, a prestigious scholarship that covers full tuition for two years at Kwansei Gakuin University, he would have argued you’re absolutely crazy.

The start of Nieto’s academic journey began when he made the decision to move to the United States for high school.

“It happened at random really, my friend was going to study in the U.S. and he invited me to come with him. So, I went to the embassy, got a visa, picked a school to go to, and since my sister lived in the U.S., I figured I’d go live with her.”

Eventually, his friend would choose not to study in the U.S. Despite that, it didn’t stop Nieto from transferring to Skutt Catholic High School his junior year of high school.

Two years later, Nieto graduated from Skutt and accepted admission to study at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. However, his studies at UNO were disappointing when it came to academic performance.

After three semesters, Nieto had landed on academic probation. He spent most of his time sleeping and was switching from major to major due to uncertainty on what he wanted to study. By the winter of 2014, he made the choice to transfer to university in Colombia.

Nieto spent a semester studying engineering at a university in Colombia before the idea of studying abroad circulated in his mind. During his childhood, Nieto had always had an interest in anime manga. His curiosity for Japanese culture developed in high school as he became more passionate about the country’s culture, language and history.

Due to limited options for studying abroad in Japan, Nieto transferred to a different university in Colombia that was reputable for their exchange opportunities. Once he arrived though, he found that he didn’t enjoy the university and it didn’t have as many options as he anticipated.

That’s when Nieto decided to transfer back to UNO.

When Nieto returned, he settled on studying International Studies and his professor, Dr. McNamara, pushed him to visit the study abroad office to explore the Japanese programs available.

“I knew I wanted to study abroad but thought that I couldn’t – I thought it would be too expensive, my grades wouldn’t be good enough, and that I should just graduate and get out.”

“I knew I wanted to study abroad but thought that I couldn’t – I thought it would be too expensive, my grades wouldn’t be good enough, and that I should just graduate and get out.”

 Jorge Nieto

Nieto was pleasantly surprised though when he discovered a university that piqued his interest; Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU), a school that resided just outside of Osaka, Japan.

By the spring semester of 2017, Nieto was on a study abroad exchange at KGU, describing the experience as, “his favorite part in everything he’d done so far academically.”

While studying in Japan, a class he particularly remembered called, ‘Ethics in Japan in the world,’ was his favorite class he’d ever taken. It would later inspire Nieto to double major in International Studies and Philosophy when he returned to UNO.

Nieto spent his semester traveling across Japan with his newfound friends, hopping on trains and backpacking any chance he had. By the time his semester was wrapping up, he knew he wanted to return to Japan someday and live there for a longer period of time; he just didn’t know how or when.

“I remember people coming from the business and accounting school and speaking to us during class. It was about a scholarship they had, and to be honest I didn’t pay attention at all.”

Little did Nieto know that this scholarship would foreshadow his future.

When Nieto arrived back to UNO, he became a peer advisor in the study abroad office. In the spring of 2018, Education Abroad Advisor Emily Krueger informed him about KGU’s scholarship and it immediately ignited his interest of returning to Japan.

In the past, Nieto had never envisioned himself going to graduate school. However, his academics had significantly improved within his last two years of school and so did his passion for learning.

“It was a big change – I went from being on academic probation to doing nothing but studying all day and loving it at the same time!”

Nieto will be studying Global Public Management within the Institute of Business and Accounting at KGU, which focuses on leadership skills for businesses that work globally. Nieto believes his international studies and philosophy background will be transferable for this career path.

As for the future, Nieto is open to seeing what opportunities present themselves.

“Part of the program is doing an internship with an international organization, and I would like to do this with the UN. Hopefully I can live in Vienna for a few months since there are a lot of philosophers that come from there.”

Nieto plans on spending more time improving his Japanese language skills and potentially working in Japan or Europe once he graduates. Someday he’d even like to get his Ph.D in Philosophy. However, he knows that eventually he’ll move back to Colombia.

For long term goals? Nieto ended with this:

“Go as many places as I can, meet as many people as I can, and see where it goes from there.”

Do you want to study abroad? Get in touch today to speak with our awesome peer advisors and learn more about education abroad options and funding opportunities.

Drop in to ASH 220 between 8 AM and 5 PM, Monday through Friday;

Give us a call at 402.554.3168; or,

Shoot us an email at unostudyabroad@unomaha.edu.

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