CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Justin Randall, April Kirkman, and Alexandria Poppendorf are three Austin Peay State University students who will join an elite group of students to be awarded a teaching assistantship with the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program.

Each of the three graduates have earned yearly contracts, receiving around $31,000 the first year, with the ability to renew up to five years.

Justin Randall retells the story as he was home alone when the email notification popped on his screen. “I opened it up, and I just got really excited,” he said, “Actually, the neighbor called the cops because they thought I was getting murdered.” A few minutes later, a city police officer knocked on his door. “Yeah, that was me, sorry,” Randall explained to the officer, “I just learned I got a big interview.”

Dr. David Rands, associate professor and director of Asian Studies at Austin Peay speaks of the program very highly, “A lot of larger schools treat the JET program applications the same as Fulbright applications,” he said. Rands participated in the program as an undergraduate in 1993. Austin Peay is quickly becoming the University in the area to work with Japan. “When Austin Peay JET candidates come across the table, they know they’re going to be good.”

Alexandria Poppendorf earned her bachelor’s in history in 2014, followed by her master’s in military history. She will be leaving her post as an APSU history instructor and taking the job with JET. “I love being an instructor here,” she said, “but I knew I wanted to go abroad if I could.” Unlike Randall, Poppendorf does not know Japanese, but still has very much to offer in Japan. “They want the native tongue experience to help children learn a more fluent version of English,” she said. “That’s part of the program, to open up Japan a little bit more to Western culture and bring it into the local and rural communities.”

Poppendorf and Randall with both be heading to Japan in August.

The third graduate, April Kirkman, fittingly started her job in April. She is working at Koriyama Xaverio Gakuen Catholic school in Koriyama, Japan, about three hours away from Tokyo. “I looked up teaching English, and JET was something that always popped up, so I delved into it.” Kirkman said, “I get to see the culture, the nature, the religion, the language, I’m super interested in learning all of that.”

There are around 5,000 U.S. applicants each year, and only around 1,000 are selected for the job. Randall has been excited on JET from the beginning, “I’m in my 20’s, I want to go travel and live in another country, why not?” he said, “I told myself, ‘If I get this job, I’m going. There’s no holding me back’”

To learn more about the Japanese Exchange Teaching program, visit https://jetprogramusa.org.