Record of Our Activities

Five schools designated as New Super High Schools (known as NSH), Izumigaoka, Nanao, Sakuragaoka, Nisui and Komatsu, gathered at Ishikawa Industrial Promotion Center.  The highlight was the presentations by the selected teams of each school and Suisei High School, which was invited as a special guest presenter.  We sent three groups from Class 22 and 23, which were chosen on Presentation Day in December, to the event.  One student from our school said, “I learned how to organize the content well from Suisei’s presentation.  I found it important to look at the topic from various points of view. ” Another pointed out, “Critical thinking is key in this kind of research project.”  Comments from others who are the same age seem to be helpful as well as stimulating to them.

The students in both SG and SS courses made presentations on January 25th with an audience of about 70 teachers from all over and outside of Ishikawa.  The day started with the presentations of the representative teams from each course, which was followed by heated arguments with pointed questions and good answers.  In the afternoon, poster sessions were held (with SGH in Students’ Hall and SSH in Keisen Auditorium).  This event was a great opportunity for them to think about how they should do further research.

(Voices from students)
When we looked at the poster we made, we were impressed because in April and May, we hadn’t been expecting to achieve this much. I am thankful for other group members, who are hardworking and supportive.  We worked hard even after school and had a hard time, but we feel very satisfied. This is not the end of our research.  The advice we received today was specific and unexpected, so we have found that there is much left to be improved in our research project. 

Three high schools (Kanazawa university High School, Kanazawa Nisui High School and Kanazawa Izumigaoka High school) met in the gym of Kanazawa University H.S. on January 12th.  SG-course students and two groups from Class 22 made presentations on what they had worked on for the past year.

Fifteen Izumigaoka students participated in an empowerment Program, where they enjoyed discussions with exchange students in English for three days. Some students from Kanazawa University High School also joined in the program.  The participants looked nervous on the first day, but they talked about their dreams very proudly in the presentations on the last day.

Twenty three Princeton High school students visited us on November 6th and experienced the high school life of Japanese students for two days, after traveling in Kyoto and Hiroshima. On the first day of their visit, they played games and enjoyed chatting with Izumigaoka students.  The performance of Calligraphy Club students also impressed them.  On the second day, they joined the classes that their host buddies are taking, such as calligraphy, and experienced what Japanese high school life is like. They spent two nights with the families that volunteered. 

On October 19th, Runa Yamamori, a graduate student in Kyoto University, was invited to our school and talked about the environmental issues related to the sea by using the various pictures of sea creatures she caught all over Japan.  The students were impressed by her words, “If we can successfully prove the biodiversity, it will be helpful in protecting the environment.”  She welcomed a lot of questions from the students, ranging from about the frequency of her fieldworks to how parasitized creatures “feel” about their situation. 

In October, 2nd-year students in the SGH course visited the U.S.A. for about a week.  They made presentations at Princeton High School, Princeton University and Eco-village in Ithaca about their research projects. Through the discussions, they got new ideas from more global perspectives. They learned a lot in talking with many Americans and staying with American families, which made their stay more memorable and inspiring for their future.

(Voices from the students)
●In the presentations we made at Princeton High School, Princeton University and Ithaca, we had a very fruitful experience and were glad that we were able to get completely new ideas from high school or university students there and the residents in the village, which will be helpful in our future research.  In Ithaca, they have a similar traffic problem to ours, and gave us a useful suggestion such as pedestrians wearing reflective vests that will possibly protect them from getting involved in an accident.
 
●Ms.Yusui and Ms.Kawamori are good role models to me.  I learned that setting a goal and finding something that I can be enthusiastic about were very important.  Ms.Yusui said that she never gave up working hard because she had a goal of standing on the Broadway stage.  Ms.Kawamori had a passion to study abroad and learn about international relations.  Even if you have hardships, you can continue to work hard if you have a concrete dream to realize and a strong passion.

●We were asked why we chose the theme almost every time we made presentations, which was quite surprising to us.  It was a pity that we were not able to answer it clearly.  We made use of this experience in Ithaca and enjoyed the discussions.

On July 18th, Mr. Ryobun Santou from Musashi High School was invited to give a lecture on the SDGs.  All the first-year students and the second-year students in the SG course were able to listen to the lecture.
  
In the lecture, the first-year students ate and compared the chocolates that are made by using palm oil and chocolate that are made without palm oil.  Through the lecture, the students learned the situations in the Borneo Island where there are sides: people who want to save the rainforest and people who want to increase the area of palm oil plantation for profit.
  
The second-year students in the SG course played “2030 SDGs Game” and imagined an ideal world in the future.

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The second-year students in the SG course planned “Omotenahi: How to Welcome People” Project on July 14th for the foreign guests who participated in the Final Presentation the day before.
   
This year’s guide plan was inspired by the workshop that the students participate in June.  The theme for this year’s project were “COLOR”, “TIME”, “WATER” and “SOUND”.  The students and guests were divided into four groups according to the theme.
   
The “SOUND” group took guests to places where they can listen and play an instrument called “Shamisen”.

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On July 13th, the third year students of the SGH course gave their final presentation.  They have worked on their project for more than a year and a half and they did their final presentation in front of many teacher and foreign guests around the nation.  Not only did they give a presentation on their research, but they also participated in the Q&A session and answered the questions in English. 

The people who watched and listened the presentation gave positive comments like: “We were surprise to see the students keep on having a conversation with the foreign guests after each question.” or “The students were doing their presentation seriously but also had some sense of humor”.

During a short break, the students had some time to chat with the foreign guest and learned a bit about foreign cultures.

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All the second-year students in the SG course had the chance to interact with some university students from the U.S.  The university students came to Kanazawa on a program hosted by the Ishikawa Prefecture.  Twenty two university students came to our school and our students were able to talk and introduce what they have been working on in their research project.

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The second-year students in the SG course and few of the third-year students were able to listen to a lecture presented by Mr. Tomoki Nitta.   Mr. Nitta had been stationed in Bhutan for three and a half year.  In his lecture, he talked about the uniqueness of the country and the things we can learn from the country.  The students were able to reflect on the lifestyle in Bhutan and their sense of value through this lecture.

From March 26th to 27th, forty newly-elected students visited United Nations University and other cooperative institutions in Tokyo to prepare for the next SG course research project.

The purpose of this visit was to get some advice on what kind of theme is suited for the research and which problems to study by taking some lectures about global problems.

On the first day, at United Nations University, the students had lectures from the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) and from UN University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) on the activities of the United Nations, which aimed at Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and made a tour of the United Nations University.  On the second day, during the training course separated with each group, they visited the Earth Park of JICA, Plan International, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  They took some lectures, made a tour and interacted with the students there.

Based on what they learned from this training, they will then prepare for research.

【Comments from the participants】
＊I felt that in the world today, we must think about the future and set our goals to create a sustainable environment.

＊What impressed me the most was the words, “Thanks to the SDGs, we are able to see the problems and issue easily”.  Now that we know and are able to see each country’s progress in achieving the SDGs, it became easy for each country to set their goals.  This will eventually be a large factor in solving the global issues.
 
＊The lecture taught us that our outlook was narrow and broad.  When there is a problem in another country, we must not think of it as a problem in another country, but think of it as a problem in our world.
 
＊I was surprised that children also mine rare metals for cell phones with their bare hands.  Although I know there are some reasons for cheap clothes, I think it is difficult to change lives quickly.  I want to find out what I can do. The common ideas of UNDP and Plan International and JICA are that we should not give temporary help, but give them something that will last for a long time.  I want to consider ideas that have long insight in mind.

On March 17th, four of the second-year students in the SG course participated in “The Poster Session for High School Students 2017” held at Kyoto University.
62 teams from 37 high schools around the nation participated.  Our students gave a presentation titled “A New Type of Children Cafeteria”.
The student who participated listened to the presentation given by students from different schools.  This experience gave them a lot of ideas on how to approach issues around the world.

On February 20th, the first-year students made presentations for the SG Basic Research

First-year students in our general course were divided into 9 classes.  In the SG Basic Research, they did a research on many local problems and thought about the solutions since April.  They researched actively in fieldwork, sent questionnaires, visited institutions, and interacted with people outside the school.  They gave their presentations confidently on each of their topic.  Afterwards, the audience asked presenters a lot of questions.

They will continue to do research on a new topic in the second grade, making use of this year’s research experience.

On February 18th, representatives from the Junior Chamber Incorporated (JCI) all over the Asian-Pacific region gathered at a conference in Kanazawa.  The third-year students in the SG course got up on the stage to do a speech in English.

The conference was held to promote activities and research whose goal is to achieve the SDGS.  The third-year students in the SG course have learned about the SDGs while working on their research. 
The students presented their research with a lot of confidence and added some humor occasionally.  We will continue to ask the people at the Junior Chamber for future cooperation and continue our research to achieve the SDGs.

On February 14th, Mr. Ryobun Santou from Musashi High School was invited to give a lecture on the SDGs.  The second-year students in the SG course listened to the lecture.
  
In the lecture, the students ate and compared the chocolates that are made by using palm oil and chocolate that are made without palm oil.  Through the lecture, the students learned the situations in the Borneo Island where there are sides: people who want to save the rainforest and people who want to increase the area of palm oil plantation for profit.
  
The students also played “2030 SDGs Game” and imagined an ideal world in the future.  The lecture and the experience gave students a lot of enthusiasm to work on their research.

On February 11th and 12th, there was a conference at the Kanazawa Chamber of Commerce and Industry to talk about how to collaborate the research projects performed in high schools and universities in Japan.  Two students from the second-year the SG course participated.

More than 120 teachers and students participated from all over the country.  The two students from our school did a poster session on their research and had a group discussion with teachers from high school and university.  It was a good opportunity for our students to learn and realize the importance of the research they are doing.

On January 31st, NSH Meeting for Reading Research Papers was held at Sakura-gaoka High School.  Three teams from our school participated and presented what they have worked on for the past year.

Many of the students that participated have done research on various topics and the students, including ours, exchanged a lot of information through this event.

On January 27th, Meeting for Reading Research Papers was held between three high schools (Kanazawa Univerisity High School, Kanazawa Nisui High School, and Kanazawa Izumi-gaoka High School).  Two teams from the SG course participated and presented what they have worked on for the past year.