Initially a high school dropout, Takaki Matsumoto ’13 went on to earn a Geneseo degree. Now he’s helping a new generation of students earn theirs.
By Keith Walters
In 2010, Takaki Matsumoto ’13 arrived in the United States from Japan with a dream to earn a college degree. That dream was a long time coming.
For a kid growing up in a single-parent family that struggled with finances, even graduating from high school proved impossible at first. Matsumoto often missed classes because he had to work, and he ended up dropping out of school. Then he and his mother visited the US to see his uncle graduate from an American college. Witnessing his uncle’s success sparked a realization for Matsumoto: pursuing a degree in the States could offer him a fresh start.
“I saw what he achieved and thought, maybe I can do the same,” says Matsumoto.
Back in Japan, Matsumoto earned his GED. He worked with an agency that helped him obtain his visa and identify affordable schools, then began his academic journey at a SUNY community college near Albany. After two years, he transferred to Geneseo, drawn by its strong academic reputation and the welcoming support network offered by the International Student Office. It was a combination he believed would help him succeed.
“Back then, I had nothing to lose,” Matsumoto says. “Coming to America felt like a chance to start over and prove to myself that I could succeed.”
Matsumoto majored in communication with minors in anthropology and linguistics, receiving a scholarship for international students during his senior year. “I was so close to not being able to afford my last semester,” he says. “Without it, I’m not sure I would have finished.”
Now a technical program manager at Amazon Web Services, Matsumoto manages and coordinates the development, deployment, and operation of new data centers that help run one of the world’s largest cloud-based computer services.
He knows the financial struggles of many students—particularly those faced by first-generation and low-income students—so he recently created the Takaki Matsumoto Scholarship Endowment in Communication. He wants to create opportunities for students to rewrite their own stories, just as he rewrote his.
“It’s crazy,” he says. “I never imagined I’d be here. But I trusted myself, even when there wasn’t much there to back it up. There are people out there who feel hopeless like I once did. Scholarships give students a sense of accomplishment and hope, and I want to give others the same chance I had.”
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