Record of Our Activities

Representatives of the high schools all over Japan designated as Super Global High Schools met at Tokyo International Forum on December 22nd to present their research projects.  The two students from our school made a poster presentation about the effectiveness of their revised prototypes of the current disaster prevention manual used in Ishikawa. They also had a discussion on global issues in terms of contributing to SDGs in English. They said, “We met a lot of people in the same generation who looked promising, which inspired us to work hard to be global leaders.”

On November 27th, sixteen college students who participated in a program hosted by CAPE (Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence) visited our school.  They were freshmen studying in universities in New Zealand, and stayed in Ishikawa for about two weeks to learn Japanese and Japanese culture. The students of Class 24 welcomed them and talked about their research projects and enjoyed discussion about social issues in New Zealand.
(Voices from the Students)
This was my first time to talk with people from New Zealand.  They were easy to talk with and kind. They shared their thoughts about our project cordially. Their feedback about our research was helpful in our further fieldwork.

On November 20th, some graduate students were invited to listen to the presentations by 2nd year SG-course students on their research topics.  Eight research groups explained how their projects were going and got advice in terms of effective use of data and information. They also found out whether they were doing research in the right way.
(Voices from the Students)
・The graduate students made a good point.  They pointed out our hypothesis was completely wrong, which perplexed us.  However, this was a good opportunity for us to think about it objectively. I was also impressed with the logic and abundance of knowledge of the graduate students.
・I thought the graduate students were good role models in how we should approach our research, which motivated us greatly. They also pointed out what was lacking and suggested some improvements, which would make our research better. 

On November 2nd, twelve alumni, who graduated from Izumigaoka and now work all over Japan, and fourteen graduates, who study at university, visited us to hold special seminars for 1st and 2nd year students.  In the seminars for 2nd year students, the twelve alumni introduced themselves and their jobs to them, gave them a discussion topic and had them discuss in smaller groups. In the seminars for 1st year students, the fourteen graduates made a presentation about the fields they majored in. Through the presentation, the students learned about the skills for delivering a message effectively in a presentation as well as about studies and life in college.
(Voices from the Students)
“Confidence comes only from making an effort.”  I learned this today and decided to remember this phrase throughout my high school life.
I thought college life would be fun and decided to work harder in high school so that I could enter the college that I wanted to go to and enjoy studying there.
“Think freely from convention” - I thought it was a common phrase. “But without conventional knowledge, you could not do so”- when I heard this, I changed my way of looking at the world.  I realized that I should know more about the world in order to create something new and have broader views.

Yusui Minami, a musical actress in the U.S.A. and a graduate from Izumigaoka S.H.S., visited us on October 24th.  After graduating from high school, she learned drama in a university in America, and now she is performing mainly in New York and taking a leading part in the musical world.
In her lecture, Ms.Yusui emphasized the importance of having a dream by talking about the hardships before she started to perform.  The students were impressed by her words, “The sky is the limit,” “It’s up to you” and “Heart connection.”  The lecture was followed by a workshop, where the participants played games and enjoyed talking with others. They were able to feel more open-minded and found how fun communicating with others can be.  Inspired by Ms.Yusui, who was full of the energy and aura of a musical star, they looked more determined to have their future as bright as Ms.Yusui’s.