Hello, this is Yuri Makada from the Hakusanroku office. I would like to write about the final poster presentations in the Engineering Design IA (1st year) held on July 24th, 2026.
Engineering Design IA is a course in which 1st year students engage in project-based activities to identify problems in everyday life and develop solutions to address them. While learning fundamental design methods and concepts, students experience the excitement of creating something new by rapidly prototyping their ideas and bringing them to life.
For this project, students were challenged to redesign “the worst thing they use every day” and improve it. The teams focused on a variety of items that they found frustrating in the dormitory and the classroom. The prototypes they developed are introduced below.
Working in teams, students identified problems encountered in their daily lives and developed innovative solutions. Throughout the project, they learned design-thinking methods and gained hands-on experience in creating prototypes that addressed real-world challenges.

Roll Hanger

This group focused on the difficulty of storing hangers efficiently due to their size and shape. To solve this issue, they designed a hanger that can be folded and rolled up for compact storage. The lightweight and portable design makes it easier to carry during moves and helps reduce the amount of space required for storage.

Blackboard Eraser Attachment

This group addressed the problem of chalk dust being dispersed into the air when erasing a blackboard, creating an unhygienic classroom environment. They developed a blackboard eraser attachment that effectively collects chalk dust while quickly and thoroughly erasing the board. The device incorporates a filter and fan system that captures airborne dust, contributing to improved cleanliness and a more comfortable learning environment.

Attachment for Table

This group recognized that students often have limited desk space, causing small items to fall off the desk and reducing the available workspace. To address this issue, they created a clip-on desk organizer that can be attached to a table. The organizer provides additional storage space for small items and helps students make more effective use of their desks.

Cable Organizer

This group focused on the clutter caused by computer cables and adapters on students’ desks. They designed a cable organizer with built-in storage that keeps cables and adapters neatly arranged. The organizer can be attached to a desk, allowing users to manage cable length efficiently and maintain a larger and more organized workspace.

Bottle Lamp

This group identified two issues in the Living Commons: the existing lighting fixtures were so large that they make it difficult for students to see the faces of friends nearby, while also failing to provide sufficient illumination for effective studying. To address these issues, they developed a lightweight, portable lighting device. The lamp shines light upward through a water-filled plastic bottle, using reflection and diffusion to spread light throughout the surrounding area. Its compact design improves visibility for communication while creating a brighter environment for studying.

On-time Laundry

This group focused on a common problem in the student dormitory: some students leave their laundry in the washing machine after the cycle has finished, preventing others from using the machines promptly. To solve this issue, they proposed a washing machine management system that utilizes student ID cards and QR codes. Students can unlock a washing machine using their ID card, while QR codes allow users to check machine availability and identify current users. The system aims to improve washing machine use efficiency and reduce waiting times.

Through this project, students experienced the entire design process, from identifying problems and generating ideas to prototyping and presenting their solutions. By focusing on everyday inconveniences and transforming them into practical innovations, they developed valuable skills that will support their future learning and engineering activities.

Yuri Makada

 Hello! This is Sade Moore a Learning Mentor at Hakusanroku Campus. I want to take this journal as an opportunity to talk about and hard launch the official International College of Technology House System!

 At Hakusanroku Campus for the past two and a half years, we have been utilizing a House System for the students who reside here. This House System was created as a way for the 1st year and 2nd year students to work together for a common goal and get rewarded for the good deeds and accomplishments that they do throughout the semester at Hakusanroku Campus by collecting House Points. The students are split between four Houses and each House is led by their Head of House, which is a Learning Mentor who oversees those students who are in their House. Students can earn various amounts of House Points by finishing and completing homework assignments and showing it to a Learning Mentor, cleaning up around Hakusanroku Campus, attending designated workshops that the Learning Mentors put on throughout the semester, volunteering for organization checks of their school materials with a Learning Mentor, or any good merit that a Learning Mentor may see a student exhibit. Students can also get demerits and lose points for any negative aspects of their behavior such as, being late to Learning Session, not attending their Roll Calls, not cleaning up after themselves and leaving their materials, possessions, and trash unattended around the campus, or any other negative demerits that a Learning Mentor may take notice that a student has done. Together, in their house, over the semester they have to work together to collect and earn (or lose) as many House Points as possible, in order to be the House with the most House Points at the end of the semester and thus winning the ICT House Cup. After each semester, the students will randomly be placed in a different House for the next semester.

 In the semesters past, the ICT House System utilized the four Houses from a well-known book and movie franchise. However, obviously this system couldn’t be used forever, and there was a need to make the House System more tailored to being an ICT House System. Therefore, at the end of the 2025 1st Semester, we surveyed the students and asked them to choose between a list of animals that are endogenous to Hakusaroku and live around Hakusanroku Campus such as, kamemushi, Asian black bear, frog, golden eagle, kamoshika, etc. The thought was, the 4 animals that the students liked the most would go towards being the animals that would be the symbols of the new ICT Houses. The four winning animals of this survey ended up being: fox, Japanese monkey(macaque), golden eagle, and the stoat. From there, I went to work and began to design the new House Crests.

 I wanted the design for the new Houses to be cohesive and also indicative of ICT and the House System that the students were already used to using beforehand. For the logo I wanted to create something that was similar to the logo used officially for ICT, but still unique and different, and although it took a lot of time, between the end of the 1st Semester of 2025 and the start of the new 1st Semester of 2026, the new House logos were finally completed and ready to be unveiled to the students, and now we can reveal them to everyone else!

The first House I will be introducing is Soragle

 

Name origin: Sora (sky)+ Eagle

Representative animal: Golden Eagle

Main Color: Blue

Secondary Color: Gold

Element: Water

Cardinal Direction: West

Defining Characteristics: Bravery and Innovation

Head of House: Krishia

 

Now to introduce, Monkage house

Name origin: Monkey + kage (shadow)

Representative animal: Japanese monkey (macaque)

Main Color: Green

Secondary Color: Silver

Element: Earth

Cardinal Direction: East

Defining Characteristics: Grit and Teamwork

Head of House: Domyson

 

 

The next House to be introduced is Vixtsune.

Name origin: Vix (short for vixen) + kitsune (fox)

Representative animal: Fox

Main Color: Red

Secondary Color: Black

Element: Fire

Cardinal Direction: North

Defining Characteristics: Cleverness and Curiosity

Head of House: Dianne

 

Last but not least, introducing Fuwapaw house.

Name origin: Fuwafuwa (fluffy) + paw

Representative animal: Japanese stoat

Main Color: Yellow

Secondary Color: White

Element: Light

Cardinal Direction: South

Defining Characteristics: Nobility and Resilience

Head of House: Sade

 

 

 

 With these four distinct Houses created it was the hope that our students could feel like this is actually their school’s own identity and is in fact a unique characteristic that they can feel proud of. Since implementing the House System at ICT, there has been a marked difference in the demeanor and character of our students. Even though they hate losing points for their Houses, it gives them a sense of responsibility and teamwork that they can strive for throughout the semester and the overall feedback from our ICT 1st and 2nd year students has been overwhelmingly positive for the House System. At the end of each semester, we give a survey to the students and ask them if they want to continue to utilize the ICT House System and we consistently get over a response of over 96% of the students wanting to continue the House System into the next semester.

 With the launching of the official ICT House System from the 1st Semester of 2026, the stakes are even higher for the students. The House that accumulated the most points by the end of the semester usually gets to choose between a special meal of their choice provided by the Learning Mentors at the end of the semester party each semester for all of their hard work. From this semester though, there is now an official House Cup Trophy that the winning House can win and write their names on the pennant ribbon which will be attached to the House Cup Trophy and displayed on the campus for everyone to see. It is our hope that all of the 1st year and 2nd year students continue to enjoy and get value out of the ICT House System in the future and through the ICT House System will become and remain productive, caring, and helpful students at ICT.

Sade Moore

Hello everyone. I’m James Taylor, one of the English teachers at ICT Hakusanroku Campus. In this journal, I’d like to tell you about an event I held during the summer holiday.

On Tuesday, August 18th, 2026, I went to Shiramine to lead an English Café event for local children, organised by the Oguchi and Shiramine Community Centres. This year, we had seven children from Shiramine Primary School (that’s more than half of the school population!) and one child from Kawachi Nursery, along with some parents and young siblings of participants who watched.

August was very hot this year, but luckily the Shiramine Community Centre staff had brought ice creams for everyone, so we started by eating them while I read a few stories: “Leo the Late Bloomer” by Robert Kraus, about a lion who learns much more slowly than everyone else, but since everyone learns at their own pace, it doesn’t matter; “The Smartest Giant in Town” by Julia Donaldson, which is about a giant who buys new clothes but then gives them away to help his friends; and “They All Saw a Cat” by Brendan Wenzel, which shows how different creatures view the same cat. Each of these books has an important message for children (and adults).

Next, it was time to move around, so we played musical chairs: the children walked or danced around a circle of chairs while the music played and had to sit down when the music stopped. There was always one chair too few, so someone was always eliminated. The children enjoyed it enough to play three times!

Finally, we played bingo, but with a slight twist: the children had to make their own bingo cards before we could play! We used the animals from “They All Saw a Cat”, learnt the names in English, and then the children filled in the spaces on their bingo cards by drawing each animal that I said. After that, we could play! The Community Centre staff prepared prizes for everyone, along with extra presents to take home at the end.

As always, it was fun to spend time with the children in Shiramine, and I’m grateful to the staff of the Oguchi and Shiramine Community Centres for their hard work organising everything.

James Taylor

Hi, my name is Ady Rohizam, and I am a 1st year student from Malaysia. During my summer break, I had the opportunity to take part in my first-ever go-kart competition on August 8th, 2026.
The event was Round 4 of the Rookie Rush Karting League 2026, organized by PROJECT KAR7ING. I competed in the Junior category. For this competition, I drove a 270cc engine (cubic centimeters) Sodi RX8 go-kart, which could reach a top speed of around 60 km/h on the straights. We were provided with separate karts for qualifying and the race.
Karting has many different types and classes of karts, and I am still very new to the sport. This was my first real experience competing on a track.
Qualifying was a difficult start for me. I struggled with the grip of the rear tires and spun out around five times. During my third hot lap, one of my friends spun in the middle of the track, and I unfortunately bumped into him. Luckily, I was not seriously injured and managed to continue.
Despite the difficult session, I qualified 11th out of 16 drivers.
Starting 11th on the grid, I was quite nervous. The red lights came on one by one. Then, suddenly, they went out. Everyone launched towards the first corner.

 

My start was slow, and I dropped four positions. I was now 15th. I kept looking for opportunities to overtake. Lap by lap, I slowly gained positions and worked my way back through the field.

 

Then, on the final lap, I saw an opportunity at the last corner. I stayed close behind the driver in front of me and waited for the right moment. As we approached the corner, I made my move and managed to overtake him.
I crossed the finish line in 10th place.

For me, this was more than just a competition. I have always wanted to experience racing, and this was my first chance to actually get on the track and compete.
I enjoyed every part of the experience, even the mistakes. The atmosphere at the track made me feel like I belonged in this community, and it made me want to race again and continue improving.
I know I still have a lot to learn. I am not an experienced karter, and I am only at the beginning of my journey. But that is what makes this experience important to me.

To anyone who dreams of becoming a racing driver, whether your goal is Formula racing, GT racing, or another form of motorsport, do not let your starting point stop you.
You do not have to be the fastest when you begin. You do not have to know everything. What matters is that you start, keep learning, and keep working towards your goal.
If racing is your dream, take the chance to start. You never know how far you can go until you try.

Ady Rohizam

Walking With Anthony
By Dr. Pauline Baird

 At ICT, students are encouraged to "SHINE IN YOUR OWN WAY." Let me introduce one such student.
His name is Anthony Purba, a 2nd year student. On almost any weekday at about 4:45 p.m., you can find him walking around campus. His route takes him past the gymnasium, the dormitories, the onsen, the cafeteria, the main office building, and the school building—circling the campus again and again.
 At first, I simply noticed him walking. Then one Sunday, I decided to join him. As we walked, I discovered that he often uses this time to call his mother in Indonesia. Since then, we have walked together after school on most weekdays and occasionally on weekends. Anthony has made walking something worth noticing.
 Many students shine in sports such as basketball and badminton, while others excel in academics. Anthony may enjoy those activities too and do well in his studies, but what stands out to me is his commitment to a simple daily habit. From approximately 4:45 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., when the cafeteria opens for dinner, he walks steadily around campus. On his busiest day, he completed 17 laps. More than once, we have ended our walk by heading directly from the pathway into the cafeteria for our evening meal.
 When I asked Anthony how this routine began, his answer was surprisingly simple.
 "Nothing inspired me to start walking every day," he explained. "I just wanted to spend time on my own by calling my mom or listening to music. Sitting made me feel bored, so I decided to make my body move by walking."

 For Anthony, the walk is also a chance to stay connected with home.
 "I wanted to talk with someone I trusted the most in Indonesian," he said.
Over the past two months, a few other students have joined us from time to time. As we walk, our conversations wander naturally through topics such as family, hobbies, future dreams, personal challenges, and everyday life. Sometimes, we spend several laps simply enjoying the quiet.
 Anthony says what he enjoys most is "talking about any topic while keeping my body fit." He hopes more students will join in the future so they can "share a lot of stories while keeping our body sustained."
 Walking with Anthony becomes more than physical activity; it becomes a time for friendship, reflection, and connection. What appears to be an ordinary walk is, in fact, something quite meaningful. Anthony is quietly demonstrating another way to experience campus life—by spending time outdoors, enjoying the fresh mountain air, maintaining a healthy routine, and making space for conversations with family and friends.
 When I asked Anthony what he would say to someone who thinks walking is boring, he smiled and replied,
 "Be grateful to have the ability to walk. Not all people can enjoy what you have."
 At ICT, students are encouraged to shine in their own way.
 I believe Anthony is doing exactly that.

By Dr. Pauline Baird