Ashita no Terakoya This Month [December Issue]
Hello! This is Gorai from the Ashitera PR team!
It feels like the end of 2023 is already upon us, doesn't it?
What kind of year has this been for all of you?
Now, for "Ashita no Terakoya This Month," where we share our activities at Ashitera.
We will be reporting on our final activities for the year, "December 2023"♪
■ We held the DEMODAY for the final results presentation of "MiraSuki," an entrepreneurship education program for high school students in Sapporo!
We also mentioned "MiraSuki" in our previous "Ashita no Terakoya This Month [August-November Combined Issue Vol. 2]".
Hosted by "Sapporo City," which is focusing on fostering startups and entrepreneurs, this is a six-month entrepreneurship education program designed to let high school students experience the fun of "entrepreneurship." Ashitera has been supporting them through program design and operations. We have been walking alongside them throughout this journey.
For details, please visit our website♪
This program, which started with an information session in July, has finally reached its final results presentation day!
Five teams, made up entirely of 22 high school students from six Sapporo municipal high schools, presented the business models they had been passionately building over the past three months!
Here is the program for DEMODAY on Saturday, December 2nd♪
・Each team: "5-minute presentation" + "Q&A with judges"
・Awards ceremony (Winning team, runner-up team, individual awards)
The winner was
<CANSOZO Co., Ltd.>, who proposed a TOURISM business!
All five teams gave it their all, and "MiraSuki" concluded successfully with bright, refreshing smiles.
After the presentations, each team reflected on the six-month program, and the students spoke one after another about what they felt through MiraSuki.
(Student feedback: excerpts)
"Honestly, the stories from university students and entrepreneurs are things you can't learn just inside school, and even if you try to look for them, I think it's very rare to meet people with similar ideas, so it was a great opportunity."
"For me, applying to this program meant facing my past failures and weaknesses, so I felt anxious the whole time I was participating. But it made me very happy that so many adults listened to my story and gave me advice, and I felt it was something necessary for my growth."
"Of course, it was fun to think about business plans while struggling with kids from other schools, but having staff and adults who thought seriously about us was a huge relief for me. I'm glad this program was my first challenge. Thank you very much!"
I look forward to their future success!
Also, it seems a new connection was born where a student from Sapporo Hiragishi High School who participated in MiraSuki was asked to do design work as an intern...! This will be unveiled in January♪
<Extra Edition>
MiraSuki held its presentation within Ezo LEAP DAY, hosted by the general incorporated association Ezofrogs. At the venue, Ashita no Terakoya provided sponsorship, and volunteer high school students held "Cafe Tomodachi-nchi"!
"Cafe Tomodachi-nchi" started from a consultation with a student from Sapporo Nishi High School who was participating in a NoMaps event, saying, "I'm thinking about wanting to create a cafe as part of my inquiry-based learning!"
While listening to the consultation, an opportunity arose for "high school students who want to run a cafe" and "high school students who want to create a place for high school students" to meet, and the project was realized with the momentum of "Well, why don't we actually try it?"
Using the 50,000 yen sponsorship, they thought about the cafe menu, considered the decorations, and thought about what they could do as high school students. Being allowed to freely use the money to plan and run the cafe from scratch seems to have been an experience where they could try their own ingenuity within real-world constraints.
After all, it is important to actually spend money, even if it is a small amount. I am glad that everyone was able to realize that despite spending money to buy things, many of them end up as trash after the event.
Many people visited on the day, and it was a huge success!!!
■ Winter "Manabiba" (Learning Place) starts in two locations: Kamishihoro Town and Bihoro Town!
A traveling winter course where elementary, junior high, and high school students living in rural areas interact with university students from outside the region "Manabiba Program".
93% of participating students answered that they 'encountered new things or things they wanted to know more about' The "Manabiba Program" has had a total of over 600 elementary, junior high, and high school students participate so far!
In 2023, we held it in the "autumn" for the first time, and our annual "winter course" has also started! This winter, it is being held in two locations in Hokkaido (Kamishihoro Town and Bihoro Town)♪
We are visiting with 14 university students gathered from inside and outside Japan!
<Kamishihoro Town, Hokkaido>
This winter marks the 6th time, the most frequent holding of Manabiba, and the [Kamishihoro Town "Manabi no Hiroba" 2023 Winter] is being held for a total of 8 days from 12/25 to 12/28 and 2024/1/4 to 1/7!
<Bihoro Town, Hokkaido>
This winter marks the 3rd time for [Manabiba Bihoro] in Bihoro Town, Hokkaido.
It was held for 4 days from 12/24 to 12/27, and local junior high and high school students participated!
We have received the following comments from the town officials who are the organizers regarding the implementation♪
Mr. Yoshio Ishio, Specialist, Regional Collaboration Section, Lifelong Learning Division, Kamishihoro Town Board of Education
"Kamishihoro Town Manabi no Hiroba" is in its 3rd year, marking the 6th time in total for summer and winter, and the relationship between participating students and staff is deepening with each session. Through conversations with older brothers and sisters who are close in age and life experience, as well as inquiry-based workshops, it has become a 'place to grasp the changes of the times and encounter new discoveries and learning.' A future full of uncertainty awaits the children. I hope this winter will again be 8 days that foster the strength to walk forward powerfully step by step on their own feet, even while struggling in such an era.
Mr. Munetaka Ota, Social Education Group, Social Education Division, Bihoro Town Board of Education
I want children to find what they truly want to do from the bottom of their hearts and foster the 'driving force' to move toward it. However, I believe these are things that can only be obtained when the children themselves start to learn about a new world, worry, and think.
"Manabiba" focuses on 'dialogue' between university students who are working hard every day with goals they want to achieve, and working adults with specialized knowledge and experience who can provide concrete advice and suggestions on diverse options. As we hold it for the first and second years, I feel that what were once distant dreams for the children are changing into goals that can be achieved close at hand, and I think that having them within reach is also producing effects in their studies.
In addition, adults and parents who interact with them in their daily lives are also being stimulated, and a sense of solidarity is being born to nurture the children's future. I would like to continue to create a 'Manabiba' that nurtures children with the whole town united.
Manabiba is where town officials and Ashitera put their hearts into designing the space! We will deliver a detailed report on what kind of winter time was spent in the January issue♪
■ Hokkaido/Koshimizu Town "After-school Learning Support" is underway!
'Ashita no Terakoya This Month [August-November Combined Issue Vol. 1]' announced the start of 'After-school Learning Support English'.
In Koshimizu Town, Hokkaido, with the cooperation of the local corporation ALOP LLC, it is being implemented 30 times in total from September 2023 to February 2024 for third-year students at Koshimizu Junior High School who wish to participate!
With less than 90 days until the public high school entrance exams, we have finally started working on past exam questions!
While spending time studying with the tension of being right before the entrance exams, they are spending time listening to the supporters' exam stories to expand their imagination of the actual day, and taking breaks.
We will raise both their spirits and academic ability for the day of the exam!
■ We went to report on the subsidized project under the "Dormant Deposit Utilization System"!
Our representative, Shimamoto, went to report on the progress of the subsidized project under the "Dormant Deposit Utilization System", which we have been selected for over a three-year period from 2022 to 2024!
2023 marks the halfway point of this three-year subsidized project.
We heard from our instructor, Satoshi Takenoshita, about advanced examples of information dissemination and impact report creation. We will continue to do our best in 2024, aiming for a local community where children can choose their own options and possibilities!
■ A new project, "After-School Online Study Room," has started in Takinoue Town, Hokkaido!
A new project in Takinoue Town, Hokkaido, "After-School Online Study Room, planned and operated by Ashita no Terakoya", has started♪
The "After-School Online Study Room" is a time once a week when students who wish to participate gather in a metaverse space with their own study materials to work on their studies. They can ask questions about anything they don't understand on the spot. We also plan to hold individual consultations in turn!
On the first day, December 19th, Shimamoto and Koda from Ashitera visited the town. They had a dialogue with third-year junior high school students to plan for their entrance exams.The online sessions will finally start from next time!
■ Winter Municipal Visits "#AshiteraIsGoing"
As reported in This Month's Ashita no Terakoya [August-November Combined Issue Vol. 2], Ashitera visited four municipalities in November, and we continued to visit three more municipalities (Takinoue Town, Hamatonbetsu Town, and Shikabe Town) in December!
We visited "Takinoue Town" from 12/18 to 12/19!We visited in conjunction with the launch of the After-School Online Study Room that started on 12/19!
We visited "Shikabe Town" on 12/22!
We were given the opportunity to present Ashitera's projects to the Deputy Mayor of Yakumo and the mayors of Mori, Shiriuchi, Shikabe, Kikonai, and Nanae, who all gathered for the occasion!
Because they are small towns, we discussed how towns can collaborate with each other to continue providing projects for children, rather than thinking in terms of individual "town" units.
We would also like to consider forms of wide-area cooperation across multiple municipalities!
■ <2024 Announcement> Preview: The crowdfunding for the "Trigger Project," where everyone supports the dreams of local children, will start on 2024/1/10!
As introduced in detail in This Month's Ashita no Terakoya [August-November Combined Issue Vol. 2], the "Trigger Project" is where everyone supports the dreams of local children.
The dreams of many children have already come true. The crowdfunding site, which has been prepared behind the scenes, will finally open on 1/10!
Please be sure to check our official Ashitera social media accounts♪
Finally
If there is any content you are interested in or would like to know more about, please feel free to contact us via the inquiry form on our website!
Ashita no Terakoya [Official] (ashita-terakoya.com)
We look forward to working together to bring you more good news next year!
Thank you for reading the December issue to the end ♪