On March 19th, Shoshanna Kelly, Alderwoman at Large, addressed the Rotary Club of Nashua, regarding her year in Japan as a Rotary Exchange Student. Shoshanna worked in Boston in the advertising field, and in 2011 formed her own company. But what forever changed her life at 17 was her year in Japan as a Rotary Exchange Student.
It started with someone coming into her school, and she became interested in going, and went home and announced to her parents that this was what she wanted to do. They were supportive and helped her through the process. She met with other exchange students in Chicago, and found that there is huge nationwide support for the Rotary Exchange program.
The skills she acquired from the adventure were:
- She learned how to “Jump”, to put her faith in someone else and go for it. It’s how she started her own business and ran for office.
- She learned to step away from her own culture and see the beauty in other cultures. Through the year she lived with 4 different families.
- She learned how to become a master at reading body language, she had to learn to pick up meaning when she didn’t understand the words.
When she decided to run for Alderman, she had several concerns:
- Whole day kindergarten
- Her daughter’s future
- How she could get involved
The transition coming back from Japan was difficult. She didn’t learn much Japanese because there were many English speaking people where she was. She now wants to visit again and take her daughter.