On Saturday, June 24, the Overseas College Guidance program hosted its annual information session for students and parents. About 300 people attended this event to learn more about the option ShibuMaku provides of attending an overseas college or university. In addition to Mr. Toyoshima’s and Mr. Crosiar’s presentations, three of our graduates gave presentations. A discussion panel with four of our graduates followed the presentations.
Principal Tamura opened the information session with warm greetings and best wishes to the attendees. Following Principal Tamura’s opening remarks, Mr. Crosiar gave his presentation. Mr. Crosiar began with a brief overview of the application process to American colleges and universities. He then highlighted the support ShibuMaku provides to students applying to overseas universities and discussed the cost of applying to and attending post-secondary schools in the US. Mr. Crosiar finished with a summary of applications to schools in Australia, Canada, and the UK. After Mr. Crosiar’s presentation, Mr. Toyoshima gave a brief presentation focused on scholarships available to our students from Japanese foundations.
Mr. Toyoshima’s presentation was followed by presentations from three of our graduates. The first presenter, a non-Returnee student, graduated with the Class of 2022 (37期) and just finished her first year at Lake Forest College in the US this spring. This presenter began by discussing her daily schedule. She also talked about the challenges she faced as an international student and the resources she at Lake Forest that helped her overcome those challenges. She then provided advice on how non-Returnee students can best prepare for and complete applications to overseas universities.
The second presenter also graduated both with the Class of 2022 (37期). She completed her first year at Smith College – a traditionally female college. This presenter discussed how flexible the learning environment is at Smith and the benefits of attending a college that is part of a consortium. (Smith has a relationship with four other schools that allows students from each school access to the other schools.) She then touched on a typical day for her, how she knew Smith was the college for her, and the great support Smith provides its students.
The third presenter graduated with the Class of 2021 (36期), and is currently studying at Brown University in the US. She began her presentation discussing how her main are of interest as a first-year student at Brown was brought more into focus during her first two years. Now, she has a clearer understanding of what she would like to do in the future and exactly how to achieve that goal. This presenter finished by sharing her schedule on a typical day and the activities at Brown.
At the conclusion of the presentations, one additional ShibuMaku graduate joined the student-presenters on stage for a panel discussion. This student is a graduate of the Class of 2022 (37期), and current student at Grinnell College. All four panelists provided invaluable insight into their experiences applying to and studying at overseas schools.
As always, our graduate students made this event a success. They provided engaging presentations and were willing to answers as many questions as possible.
Thanks to our graduate students who gave presentations and participated in the panel discussion, this year’s information session was very useful to our community. We are very grateful to all of the presenters and attendees, and are looking forward to next year’s information session.
