Hello, this is Yuri Makada from the Hakusanroku Campus office. On Saturday, November 9th, 2024, a team Ekiden (Relay Race) involving 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th year students, along with faculty and staff members, was held at the Hakusanroku Campus. It was a cool and sunny autumn day with clear blue skies, creating the perfect atmosphere for the event.
 The race took place on a roughly 670m course around the Hakusanroku Campus. Four teams were formed, each consisting of both students, faculty, and staff members. The start and handoff point was next to the gymnasium, with the course passing the dormitory, the KIT Innovation Hub, and the Hakusanroku Campus entrance before completing a full lap. Each team, made up of about 15 members, took turns running one lap at a time, completing a total of 30 laps (about 20.1 km).

 After Philip Cadzow sensei, Health and Physical Education teacher, gave the signal to start, the starting runners each team sprinted off. Right from the beginning, the starting runners added a touch of excitement to the event: among them, 4th year student Kan Kinoshita performed a backflip before starting, and Learning Mentor Apirak Sang-ngenchai sensei ran in a banana costume. As each runner completed their lap, they handed off their sash to their teammate, leading to a thrilling and competitive race. Students showed a mix of emotions—some were nervous before their turn, but they smiled as they took the sash and began running. Some students tried their best to outrun pursuing faculty and staff members. Philip sensei ran multiple laps, and Ian Stevenson sensei went above and beyond, running continuously regardless of his turn, completing an impressive 21 laps (roughly 13.5 km) on his own. In the second half of the race, the Yellow Team surged ahead, leaving the other teams two laps behind and securing a decisive victory!
 At the end of the event, Amazon gift cards were awarded to all members of the winning Yellow Team and the MVPs of each of the four teams.

 The sight of everyone, including students, faculty, and staff cheering each other on, continued until the very end of the race. It was truly moving to see the runners pushing through with labored breaths and heavy legs as the sash was passed from one teammate to another. The event was a wonderful experience, with all the team members united as one.

@ictkanazawa

2024年11月9日（土）、白山麓キャンパスで1、2、4、5年生と教職員が4チームに分かれてチーム対抗の駅伝大会が開催されました！各チームは15人で、合計30周（1周約670m）を走り切りました。🏃‍♀️🏃🔥✨ #国際高専 #駅伝 #ict #kosen #白山麓キャンパス #金沢キャンパス #ekiden

♬ familie - Mrs. GREEN APPLE

Yuri Makada

 

Hello, this is Yuri Makada from the Hakusanroku Campus office. Today, I would like to write about the Halloween events held at Hakusanroku Campus.

 Every year when Halloween comes around, the Hakusanroku Campus is decorated with a festive Halloween theme by students and learning mentors. Students and Learning Mentors decorated the big stairs with Halloween decorations and attached plastic bags with pictures drawn on them to the air conditioner vents blowing air out from the floor. The plastic bags were decorated with pictures such as Moo deng (หมูเด้ง), the adorable baby hippo from Thailand beloved on social media, along with other animated characters and cute ghosts. The bags would sway like little ghosts in the breeze, bringing delight to teachers and staff! Additionally, a "Making Jack-o'-Lanterns" event was held, led by Ian Stevenson sensei.

 On Friday, October 25th, 2024, during the optional Learning Session, a game of hide and seek was held. The game consisted of four rounds. The students who were hiding took cover inside the school building, while the seekers had 5 minutes in the first round and 10 minutes in rounds 2 to 4 to find the hidden students. The number of seekers ranged from 3 to 6 students per round, and the goal was to find all the hidden students within the time limit. 

 The dark, quiet atmosphere of the school added an extra thrill to the game, and the students seemed to have a lot of fun. Initially, only 3 rounds of hide and seek were planned, but the excitement was so high that an additional round was added. Students who weren’t found within the time limit were rewarded with a snack by learning mentors.

The Learning Mentors created a video trailer for Hide and Seek👻

@ictkanazawa

ラーニングメンターからハロウィンにちなんだ動画をもらいました🎃今後、校内で「ハロウィン隠れんぼ」が開催されるそうです👻楽しみですね🎃👻👻 #国際高専 #白山麓キャンパス #ict #寮生活 #hakusanrokucampus #dormlife #schoollife #halloween #hideandseek

♬ オリジナル楽曲 - 【公式】国際高等専門学校 - 【公式】国際高等専門学校

The day of hide-and-seek👻

@ictkanazawa

2024年10月25日（金）のラーニングセッション（夜の学校）オプショナルの日では、「校内隠れんぼ」が開催されました🎃👻 #国際高専 #ict #internationalcollegeoftechnology #ハロウィン #隠れんぼ #寮生活 #寮 #学生生活 #学校 #高専 #Halloween #hideandseek #schoollife #dorm #kosen #kosenjapan #technicalcollege #japan #school

♬ Pumpkins Dance Halloween - AF_Sounds

 On Thursday, October 31st, 2024, teachers and students dressed in Halloween costumes for classes, strengthening the Halloween atmosphere. Students wore costumes such as Pokémon characters and movie protagonists, while teachers appeared in unique outfits like maid costumes and hot dog suits, making for a uniquely styled day of classes.

 

 Additionally, a Halloween special lunch menu was offered. The selection included a cute ghost-shaped salad and seven varieties of freshly baked bread and cookies. Students cheerfully chose their favorite treats and had a lot of fun!

 After classes, a Halloween Costume Parade was held. Students and teachers walked the stage, striking poses and performing skits they had created. Among the highlights were 1st year students Ayane Ito, Madoka Nakazawa, and Kotori Mae, who wore matching costumes from the movie Mr. Vampire and performed a dance to the music, drawing cheers of "So cute!" from the audience. Another memorable moment came when 1st year student Lapananrat Pantawat who had not worn a costume during class, surprised everyone just before the parade by appearing in a giant dinosaur costume, bringing laughter and delight to the crowd. Following the costume parade, a contest was then held to determine the most creative, scariest, cutest and funniest costumes.

 The last event was the piñata event. In this popular Mexican tradition, blindfolded students swung a stick at a piñata. They were guided by the voices around them until they hit piñata and it burst, scattering candy. Cheers erupted as treats rained down, adding excitement to the celebration.

 In October, Hakusanroku Campus was fully immersed in a Halloween atmosphere, creating a fun and lively environment. This unique Halloween event, characteristic of ICT, surely made for a memorable time for the students.

Halloween day🎃

@ictkanazawa

ハッピーハロウィン🎃👻👻👻 10月31日（木）、白山麓キャンパスの1、2年生と教職員は仮装をして1日過ごしました。夜にはハロウィンコスチュームパレードなども開催されて賑やかな1日となりました🎃🧁🧡🧡 #国際高専 #高専 #石川県 #白山麓キャンパス #ict #internationalcollegeoftechnology #kosen #kosenjapan #japan #ハロウィン #仮装 #パレード #Halloween #costume #funevent #event

♬ APT. - ROSÉ & Bruno Mars

👻Costume contest video🎃

@ictkanazawa

2024年10月31日（木）の放課後、白山麓キャンパス（1、2年生）では、ハロウィンコスチュームパレードが開催されました🎉🎃👻 学生と教員たちはステージでダンスをしたり、自分たちで考えた演劇などを披露したりして、思い思いの仮装をアピールしました🕺🏻💕🎃 #国際高専 #白山麓キャンパス #ハロウィン #ict #halloween #高専 #internationalcollegeoftechnology #party #仮装 #パレード #costume #funevent

♬ Happy Halloween - Junky

Costume Contest
🏆The Funniest Award🏆

🏆The Scariest Award🏆

🏆The Cutest Award🏆

🏆The Most Creative Award🏆

Piñata

 

Yuri Makada

Hello, I am Ian Stevenson, an English teacher here at Hakusanroku Campus.
 On Thursday, October 24th, 2024, in what has become an annual tradition at ICT, students made jack-o'-lantern. This year, because of weather and monkeys, I was not able to grow any pumpkins in my garden. All the jack-o'-lanterns this year are made from paper mache. 

If you’re interested in making paper mache see the link below for the recipe.
Hakusanroku Journal: November 19, 2022 Making Jack-o’-lantern

 1st year students Kotori Mae, Madoka Nakazawa, Ayane Ito and Takeshi Murayama, as well as Learning Mentor Sade Moore sensei, all made jack-o'-lanterns, put lights in the jack-o'-lanterns’ mouths and hung them so they could look across the road at Sena Roadside Station. Madoka cut a fanged and star eyed monster from her paper mache pumpkin, Sade sensei made a Cinnamoroll Roll jack-o-lantern, Kotori’s jack-o'-lantern had green hair, Ayane created an original pumpkin character called “Kabo Kabo” and Takeshi turned his paper mache pumpkin into a bat. 

 

Hello, this is Yuri Makada from the Hakusanroku office. It is now November and the mornings and evenings at the Hakusanroku Campus have become quite chilly, making me feel that winter is coming. Today, I would like to write about the Kutani Ware Overglaze Painting Experience and the Flower Arrangement and Kado Class held in September.

【Kutani Ware Overglaze Painting Experience】　

 On Thursday, September 12th, 2024, Arihiro Kodaka sensei oversaw the Kutani Ware Overglaze Painting Experience. Two instructors from the Ishikawa Prefectural Kutani Ware Technical Institute led this activity.
 First, the instructors explained the characteristics of Kutani ware, how to hold the brush, and the types of colors used.
 Then, the students transferred their pre-prepared designs onto square plates, sketching them in pencil. The designs they prepared were inspired by Japanese themes, such as sea creatures, Mt. Fuji, koi fish, and the kotoji stone lantern at Kenrokuen Garden. This design was tasteful and evocative of the season.
 The painting style used in this session is "Gosaide," a traditional style in Kutani ware. After the initial sketching in pencil, students outlined their designs in a black pigment called “Gosu” and then applied five Japanese pigments (yellow, blue (green), dark blue, purple (brown), and red) to add color. Though initially nervous about outlining and applying these colors, the students gradually gained confidence and worked with increasing enjoyment.
 Once the painting was completed, the pieces were sent for firing, and about a month later, the finished plates were delivered to the students. The plates were amazing. The transformation, with the colors becoming richer and deeper, resulted in beautifully crafted Kutani ware unique to this traditional style.

【Flower Arrangement and Kado Class】

 On Friday, September 13th, the Flower Arrangement and Kado class was held. Kazumi Minamikawa sensei (instructor) led the Flower Arrangement course.
 First, students arranged flowers using roses, chrysanthemums, chili peppers, and leatherleaf ferns. After learning from Minamikawa sensei how to cut the stems and keep the flowers in water, the students placed their flowers on a special sponge to shape their arrangements. Adding chili peppers at various angles, each student created a unique piece in their own style.
 Next after being divided into two groups, students tried their hands at flower arrangement using a flower frog and a water basin to create a full-scale flower arrangement with sunflowers, foxtail millets, St. John’s worts alstro emeria, Japanese fantail willows, and peruvian lilies. Using Minamikawa sensei’s model as a guide, the students created a beautiful display by making holes in straight leaves, bending them around to create curves, and scattering flowers on the surface of the water while bringing out the individuality of the flowers and leaves.
The students' works were displayed at the entrance of the Hakusanroku campus and in common areas, creating a gorgeous atmosphere on campus.

 

間加田 侑里

“𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙧 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙧 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.”
― Rachel Carson

 Hello, this is Dorsaf Gatri, one of the STEM teachers at ICT.

 As a teacher, one of my main focuses is to foster students’ interest in a particular topic. This would involve, amongst other things, tackling topics that have a direct influence on the students’ lives and/or future.

 When I learned that students will have the opportunity to choose for themselves if they wanted to join Biology class or another class, I realized that half of the task is done: All the students in my class would already be interested in what I have to teach. What is left to do is to use this golden opportunity to introduce young, bright minds to one of the biggest challenges that is facing us in the 21st century. 

 It is no secret that the news about the decline of the state of our environment is worrisome, to say the least. Environmental science is an interdisciplinary subject. This might be a reason to think of it as a complicated matter. It can also be a reason for hope; history shows us that big challenges can be overcome when humans collaborate. This biology class tried to enforce the following ideas:

Hope is part of the solution:

 There is a myriad of reasons to why we should be very concerned about the environment, however this does not mean that all hope to turn the tables is lost. Students were taught that human ingenuity can mitigate environmental issues. We discussed examples and possible innovative ideas to get humans needs met while preserving the only home that we know: the earth. Some of the solutions mentioned in class are: 
-Decentralized energy systems using microgrids
-Shared driverless cars to reduce GHG emission related to transportation
-Grazing animals’ systems as opposed to industrial livestock 
-Using seaweed to restore the overturning circulation in the oceans

Understanding the problem is the first step to the solution:

 Different activities and experiments were conducted to illustrate the concepts explained in class.

 One of these activities was a fishing game to explain the concept of the Tragedy of the Commons. In this activity students were part of an imaginary village and were competing against each other to catch fish. Each type of fish had a price tag. The winner of the game would be the richest person in the village.

This is how the game is played: Students have four 30 seconds turns with each turn corresponding to one fishing season. During each of these turns, students try to catch fish using a tape attached to two straws and they must make at least 500¥ to keep playing. At the end of each term, each pair of fish will produce two offspring.

 As expected, the students, hoping to be the richest and win, depleted all the fish in the ocean in the first round. This is when they realized that the only way to win this game is to come up with a sustainable strategy and make sure that there will be enough fish in the ocean for them to catch next season. I reset the game and the students were given another chance during which they worked together to maintain natural resources. Using an environmentally friendly approach to play, the students ended up with more financial prosperity.

 Another important experiment that was conducted is the soil salinization experiment. The students monitored the growth of mung beans using different salinity levels. The results of the experiments showed clearly the adverse impact of salinity on plants and, by extension, on our food sources.

 To sensitize the students to the problem of biodiversity loss and its impacts on ecosystems, they were introduced to taxonomy (the science of naming animals and plants) and ecology (the study of the interaction between the organisms and their environment). The taxonomy classes were followed by a microscopic observation of different animals and plants. The ecology classes were followed by a classroom food web activity. In this activity, the students, each representing an animal from a particular trophic level, had to draw that animal, hang it on the board and work together to create a food web.

The scientific method is the reliable way towards the solution:

 The students used the scientific method to brainstorm an experimental design to test the air quality of different locations of their choice. They presented and discussed their qualitative and quantitative data. This helped the students to not only learn about the different types of air pollutants and their sources, but also to familiarize themselves with the scientific method and the scientific jargon. 

 The students enjoyed this class and so did I. Next semester we will laser-focus on the most pressing of environmental issues: Climate change.

Dorsaf Gatri