On Saturday, June 21, the Overseas College Guidance program hosted its annual information session for school-wide community. We were very fortunate to not only have over 250 people attend our information session, but also to have eight graduate students participating, as well as, Chancellor Tamura and Principal Tamura in attendance. The format of this year’s information session followed that of previous years’ – presentation followed by a Q&A Panel; however, there was a slight twist.
Principal Tamura opened the information session with a warm greeting to the guests, remarks regarding the current situation around the world, and expressed his confidence in ShibuMaku students’ abilities to overcome challenges. Following Principal Tamura’s greeting, Mr. Crosiar gave his presentation, which focused on a general overview of preparing for and applying to overseas universities. Mr. Crosiar touched on topics such as extracurricular activities and the differences between application systems in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
Following Mr. Crosiar’s presentation was Mr. Toyoshima’s presentation. Mr. Toyoshima’s presentation focused on information about past ShibuMaku students who have applied to overseas universities and scholarship information. He also discussed studying English and the need for students to find a passion for studying at overseas universities. Mr. Toyoshima’s presentation was followed by three presentations by ShibuMaku graduates.
The twist in our usual format comes here. Typically, we have two Returnee graduates and one non-Returnee present. This year, however, we had two non-Returnees who just finished their first years at schools in the US present. Both students graduated in the Class of 2024 (39期). The first presenter attends the University of Chicago and discussed life at a research university in a big city. The second presenter attends a small liberal arts school in the countryside in Iowa and discussed life at a small school far away from big cities. Both presentations were informative and interesting.
A Returnee graduate of the Class of 2016 (31期), who graduated from Pomona College, was our final presenter. They briefly discussed life at a liberal arts college in Los Angeles. After, they talked about how going to an overseas university affected their job-hunting experience and how it affects their current work. This was a great opportunity for our community to see an outcome of going to an overseas university. Once the presentations finished, we had a panel discussion that included the three presenters plus an additional five graduate students.
Beyond the presenters, the panelists included a great mix of graduate students. One participant graduated in the Class of 2021 (36期) and will be starting a Master’s course in Computer Science at Stanford University this fall. Another participant graduated with the Class of 2022 (37期) and will be entering their fourth year at Lake Forest College. Two other participants both graduated with the Class of 2023 (38期); one attends Stevens Institute of Technology, and the other attends California Institute of the Arts. The final panelist that was not a presenter graduated with the Class of 2024 (39期) and attends Wesleyan University, where they are triple majoring.
Every participant provided valuable insight into the application process and attending universities overseas. We are very thankful to them for their time and assistance helping us to help ShibuMaku students create options for their next educational step.
