Mikie Bertholf

College is tough, even in your native tongue. Imagine tackling it in a second language! That was the challenge faced by Mikie Bertholf when she came to this country in February of 2001.

Having grown up in Japan, a country famous for rigorous education, she was used to studying hard; she had already taken a fair amount of English, and spent a year in Canada living with a local family and attending a language school. "I got more confident about talking to people," she said, recalling how she used to make a mental note of unfamiliar words so she could look them up later. "So many times it made me cry because I couldn't understand."

When the year was over, she took her new English skills back to Japan and got a job at a bar frequented by international travelers, businessmen and military personnel-a deliberate move that would force her to practice her English. What she didn't know was that it would also plunk her squarely down on the path to the rest of her life. One evening-the eve of the millennium, as a matter of fact-Mikie was behind the bar working the New Year's Eve party while a cast of international characters partied like it was 1999. Among them was a man named Reece Bertholf, a Marine Corps member originally from Minnesota but stationed in Okinawa. Something about the young Japanese bartender must have caught his eye because three days later he came back. The two played pool and darts, talked and drank until 6:30 that morning.

"We couldn't stop," Mikie laughs. "We just had so much to talk about for some reason. I lost track of time and missed the last train, so I had no choice but to stay there with him until the first train. Somehow it worked, meeting a guy at the bar."

He later proposed, and that's how Mikie came to Beaufort, where she and Reece live with their 4-year-old daughter, Kiwa. But everything wasn't all peaches and Disneyland for her in the United States; when she enrolled in the Technical College of the Lowcountry in spring of 2006, her entrance exams placed her on a level where she needed to take developmental education courses-unaccredited classes that taught basic language, reading and math skills.

"At first I felt so stupid," she recalls in her now impeccable English. "But at the end of the semester I was glad I had taken those classes because without those basics, I would have really struggled. I became an A student because of those classes."

Now, fresh off of graduating from TLC's Radiologic Technology program and being chosen to deliver the commencement speech, Mikie is both relieved to be finished, and excited to begin again.

"I want to do more," she said, hoping to continue her studies in radiologic science and eventually earn her bachelor's as well as her master's. "Not for myself, but to show people that-hello!-if I can do it, you probably can too. People laugh at my accent sometimes, but so what? Look at everything I can do."

*Up Close*

Hometown: Kawasaki, Japan
Pets: dogs Hana, A.J. and Max; cat Bella
Hobbies: "making little things with my hands"
What sort of little things? 1,000 red, white and blue origami cranes, arranged to form an American flag that hangs in the Beaufort fire station
Favorite thing about living in Beaufort: "It's very different from other towns; people like to keep the historic look."
What she misses most about Japan: the food!
On the TCL Foundation that granted her a scholarship: "They are wonderful! They work so hard and they care about students, more than just giving them money."
Advice: "Keep your head up and keep a smile on your face no matter what."