Home / Impact Awards / Hamid – Hop Art House
A glimpse into my design journey from early curiosity to building systems and visuals, turning ideas into real, meaningful experiences. Now working with Wahid and Grace to launch Hop Art House, dedicated to democratizing art and honoring the artist's hand, creative process, and emotional presence in a world increasingly dominated by AI.
www.hoparthouse.com
Inspired by my grandfather’s hearing loss, I See Life works to bridge the gap between deaf and hearing communities. Through exchange trips and activities to a local deaf school, weekly sign language sessions, and events on World Hearing Day, we encourage more people to connect with the hard of hearing community, one that often gets overlooked in our daily lives. #DeafAwareness #Inclusion #SignLanguage #TechForGood #uwc #uwcisakjapan #isakimpactawards #isakimpact #nagano #karuizawa
We are ISAK Sports CAS, aiming to promote physical education and sports in various forms of events and activities in the school, as well as locally in Japan. As student athletes at UWC ISAK Japan, our belief is that taking part in sports will have significantly positive impacts on individual health and ISAK's sense of community. We hope to increase the quantity and quality of opportunities for individuals to showcase their skills in various sports as well as raise school spirit in the process.
Project Iridescent, now Hogo Women's Network, addresses the lack of support for women navigating gender-based discrimination in professional spaces. Through workshops, community building, and the development of EMBR (an intelligence-driven platform), the project transforms stigma into data-driven insight, empowering women and driving more inclusive, resilient workplaces.
When the Taliban banned girls from learning, these students didn't stop. They went underground.The Evening School partnered with Afghanistan Education Action to bring computer science education to hidden classrooms in Herat, growing from 16 students to 48. But their impact doesn't stop at the classroom door. They're also taking Afghan students' voices to the United Nations, advocating for children's right to learn in conflict zones around the world.Education is resistance. Education is hope.
In rural Peru, students face systemic barriers to quality education. After studying in Japan, I returned to Churcampa and founded a low-cost community academy. In less than a year, we've reached over 50 students, providing daily classes in math, English, and language, expanding access to learning and helping close the rural-urban education gap.
We tackle coffee waste by combining science with community action. Our team engineered E. coli to remove caffeine from spent coffee grounds, making them safe for use as fertilizer. Beyond the lab, we partnered with coffee shops, taught students through workshops and camps, and brought sustainability education to rural communities, empowering people to turn everyday waste into a resource.
Restoring Hope supports 36 displaced girls in Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia, who were affected by the Tigray War. Combining psychological rehabilitation with educational reintegration, the project helps them rebuild confidence, emotional wellbeing, and motivation to return to school in a safe and supportive environment.
Hi, I’m Lucy (Canada / Class of 2020), and I made a film entirely out of plastic!I began to catalog every piece of plastic I picked up and submitted my data to the Break Free From Plastic annual report. Then I made a 3-minute film called, "The Plastic Problem", that's being shown at film festivals around the world.Finally, I sequestered all the plastic into ecobricks and built a stool out of them.I’ve since presented these findings at a conference in Belgium and to my local elementary school on Denman Island. 🌱
Our school's manually-operated panel heaters for room heating have low fuel efficiency because they have no algorithm regulating their heat output and stay on even when nobody is around. Project H-RACS provides an IoT solution to automating these radiators. This efficiently uses fuel, not only decreasing heating cost, but also maintaining a temperature that is just-right for the classroom. By using our resources more efficiently, project H-RACS is creating a more sustainable school.
PEASO, or Peer Education and Support Organization, is a CAS project started at UWC ISAK Japan. With our motto "from students to students," we aim to learn and develop new ways to combat a multitude of issues within academically intense and culturally diverse school environments. Mental health, academic stress, safeguarding, identity, and multicultural communication are what PEASO strives to learn about and ultimately prevent.
I left my job and cycled across the Silk Road from Beijing to Rome. What began as curiosity became connection, through moments, kindness, and people who opened their worlds to me. The world isn't as distant as it seems. Connection brings it closer.
I invited director Hirokazu Kore-eda (是枝裕和) to UWC ISAK Japan because his films explore universal social issues with deep empathy — something that strongly resonates with our diverse student body from more than 80 countries.Reaching out to him felt impossible. He seemed completely out of reach.But I sent the message anyway. And he came.This experience taught me that even the most “unreachable” people might say yes if you have the courage to ask.Dream big. Take action.