Hello, my name is Shoki Sakuma, and despite every barrier life has placed in front of me, I am still fighting for my chance at the American Dream at just 19 years old.

I am an award winning international student facing a tuition crisis for the Spring 2026 semester, but after all I’ve already overcome in life, I’m not about to give up.

I grew up in a household where love existed, but stability rarely did. When I was 16, my father’s work collapsed due to severe financial trouble, and he was forced to leave my mother and me behind. Overnight, we lost not only our financial stability but also the sense of security we once had, and the full weight of survival fell on my mother’s shoulders.

Through everything, my mother has carried our family alone. She works from early morning until nearly midnight, running her small cooking business, teaching her classes, maintaining our apartment, and fighting through never ending divorce stress. She has done everything in her power to protect me and give me a chance at a better life. The only reason I can study in the United States, at The George Washington University, is because she sacrificed her own stability and health so I could chase opportunities she never had.

At the same time that year, my grandfather suffered a severe cerebral infarction, leaving my cousin’s family and me overwhelmed and leaving my mother without any remaining family support. And while navigating all this this summer, I have been managing keratoconus, an eye disease that distorts my vision and requires lifelong treatment. Even with these challenges, I made a promise to myself: hardship would not define me. I would rise, even if the path was steep.

As a first generation international college student, I came to the United States knowing I would receive no government support, no scholarship aid, and no financial assistance. New administrative cuts made financial help for international students nearly impossible. So, I took full responsibility for my survival. I began tutoring Japanese middle school students preparing for the TOEFL English exam. During the summer, I worked demanding shifts at the Ritz Carlton Tokyo, and later served VIP guests at a Michelin 1 Star restaurant, where discipline, precision, and professionalism were essential. These jobs helped me afford basic expenses and taught me resilience, humility, and survival skills.

Even with the weight of my situation, I refused to stop growing. One of the most transformative experiences of my life was leading my team in the L’Oréal Brandstorm 2025 competition. Our team, LooksMax™, achieved results far beyond what I ever dreamed possible:

• We became the #1 winning team out of more than 12,000 participants in the United States, presenting at L’Oréal USA Headquarters in New Jersey and New York.

• Out of 242,000 global competitors, we advanced to the International Semi Finals in Paris, representing the United States among the top 42 teams in the world.

• We ultimately placed Top 10 globally.

• As Team Leader and Head of Marketing & Logistics, I directed our brand narrative, global research, and prototype development from concept to pitch.

Our work earned us a spot among only a few students recognized with the GWSB Student Leadership Award 2025. Since then, I also received a competitive internship offer from L’Oréal USA in New York City for Summer 2026, an opportunity that would be impossible without staying enrolled in the full academic year.

In July, I also co founded IDSA at GW, the university’s first design organization dedicated to bringing real industry innovation to students. As the next step, in November, we co hosted a historic event that welcomed over 300 guests and brought L’Oréal to campus—an event attended by the President of GW, senior administrators, deans, 10+ faculties, and leaders across the university, and my marketing team took care of most of the inside campus promotion!

Throughout Fall 2025, I continued sharpening myself professionally, training to present at a polished corporate level, and earning a place in Alpha Kappa Psi, one of the most selective and prestigious business fraternities in the nation. But every milestone came with the quiet reality of being alone in a foreign country, navigating financial instability, health challenges, and emotional hardship.

These experiences shaped the way I see my future. I want to build my career here in the United States in U.S. business, marketing, and consulting where precision, creativity, and innovation can directly improve people’s everyday lives. I am obsessed with understanding products / services down to their smallest details, just like studying the engineering of an iPhone or the psychology behind world class consumer brands. Through L’Oréal Brandstorm, projects, and my own research, I discovered that marketing is not just promotion; it is problem solving. It is using design, psychology, and high definition thinking to create products and experiences that people rely on every single day. I want to contribute to that ecosystem. I want to help expand markets, elevate product experiences, and create solutions that make life easier, better, and more human for people in this country!

I am now facing a $45,000 tuition crisis for the Spring 2026 semester, a burden I cannot overcome alone. Asking for help is one of the most vulnerable things I have ever done, but I am doing it because I refuse to give up. I believe in the future I am building. I believe in the American Dream that brought me here. And I believe that education is the key to giving my family the stability and peace it has never had.

I want to become someone who lifts others, not someone who is defeated by circumstance.

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