Risako Beddie OC ‘23

 

J.F. Oberlin University, Japan (2023-25)

Risa Beddie (she/they) ’23 is a double degree student who majored in Chemistry and Interdisciplinary Voice. Risa grew up in Tokyo and Shanghai and moved to the United States to study music, only to find herself fascinated by chemistry. She was awarded the Virginia M. Baker Scholarship in Chemistry while conducting research in the Oertel laboratory investigating the structure of alizarin lake pigments and growing alum crystals. While at Oberlin, Risa has worked as a Peer Tutor in music theory, a Teaching Assistant, and Stockroom Assistant in the Chemistry department. She has also led such ensembles as the Cats in the Hats, Risa’s Pieces, and the Anonymous Ensemble, who have played at the Cat in the Cream, Wilder Porch, and outside Ben Franklin’s. Over the summer of 2021, Risa taught private voice lessons to young girls at the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa, Kenya, through a virtual teaching winter term project. That summer, she also met members of the Japanese rock band Okamotos and sang background vocals on their 2021 album, “Knowhere”.

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By Risako Beddie ‘23, JFOU Fellow

Home, at Last:

There I was, one overweight suitcase in each hand, stumbling into the Haneda Airport lobby on a hot July afternoon to find my mother, curiously sporting a stylish bucket hat, waiting patiently by a sign that read, Narita EXpress →. I was scheduled to fly a day earlier, but managed to miss my 8am flight out of Cleveland the first time due to a combination of my own stupidity and a hair dye emergency.