Help 2000 students from US & Japan connect online!

Over the past few months, the students participating in Global Classmates have not only been discussing various topics with their partner classmates, but have also been working on creating a video for the program-wide competition Video Koshien. With the theme “Our Cool School!” students discussed with their classmates what makes their school unique and interesting. Is it their school motto “trying hard is cool!”? Is it the diversity of their student body? Is it the beautiful scenery it’s surrounded by? The students spent countless hours together, often their free time after school, to film and edit a 3-minute video to showcase what’s cool about their school.

Normally students only engage with their partner school during the program, but Video Koshien allows them to watch the videos of students from other schools and explore new approaches to presenting their ideas using video, all while learning about and deepening their understanding of the diverse cultures of their classmates from Japan and the U.S. It is not an easy task for students to come up with an idea for the video together and use a non-native language to present it; however, we were left speechless by the creativity and uniqueness of the high school students’ ideas, as well as their ability to have fun and work together.

One teacher mentioned that when her students decided to compete in Video Koshien, she casually thought, “I hope it’ll become a fun high school memory for them.” However, she was shocked to see the students’ dedication and passionate approach to the project that went far beyond her expectations. One of the students took a leadership role and divided the class into teams to tackle different tasks. They also had to hold an emergency meeting to alter the ending, as the weather didn’t cooperate and it didn’t snow as expected. Through trial and error and working together as a team, it not only became a great memory for the students but also for the teacher.

This year, 22 schools (11 from Japan and 11 from the U.S.) submitted their videos for the competition. It was difficult to choose the winners, but in the end, the following schools won with their creative videos! You can check them out here.

GRAND PRIZE and 1^st place, Japan: Murasakino High School (Kyoto)

1^st Place, US: Eleanor Roosevelt High School (Maryland)

2^nd Place, Japan: Asaka Kaisei High School (Fukushima)

2^nd Place, US: Kamehameha Schools (Hawaii)

Thank you for your continuous support that allows us to provide these unique skill-building opportunities and fun community for these students!