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Dressed up as a “Moogle” from the Final Fantasy franchise and her character of choice to represent during the Karoshi Con expo, Sarah Greer of Rochelle, IL., is a part-time student at the moment, at least until fall where she’ll be starting out as a graduate student in art education. “Right now I’m taking Chinese so I don’t waste my brain,” Greer said. Greer chose Chinese because she had already taken all the Japanese courses. And she took Japanese because she was told it was the hardest. When she was younger, Greer was the victim of a brain injury and as a result was told she couldn’t do a lot of these things. This challenge worked as motivator for her instead. Even her fascination for Asian studies comes from a drive to learn. While working as an NIU undergrad in her major of art history, she noticed that Asian art was neglected in the avant-garde circles, despite it’s impact, influence and talents in the world of art. “I honestly didn’t want to remain ignorant in it,” Greer said. Greer’s brain injury was the result of child abuse. This experience has led her to want to teach art at the middle-school level. She feels it’s a really hard time for kids, especially because of their developing brains. “I didn’t really have a voice at that time,” Greer said. But what she did have was the support and help from her art teachers. “When you’re younger and you go through abuse, you don’t really know how to process it. Especially when it comes from someone that’s supposed to protect you. You think, ‘this is how life is,’” Greer said. She knows that having someone to “save you” at that moment is critical and can be life changing. And now she wants to “pay it forward.” Herself.