Leadership

Leading Self, Leading Others: G10 Project Week

October 26, 2017

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UWC ISAK Japan Summer School is made possible in part by a generous contribution from Mizuho Financial Group, LLC.

“This week was part of a journey our students have already started, and one they will continue on their whole lives.”
– Ms. Kajsa Tuggey, G10 Project Week Coordinator

Throughout G10, students are focusing on the skills and practice of leading self and leading others. With this in mind, G10 Project Week 2017 included a curriculum focused on helping students develop a greater sense of both self and community as they practiced their teamwork and leadership skills.

Throughout the week, G10s participated in a series of thematic discussions, along with awareness challenges, and outdoor activities. Rather than approaching mindfulness through stillness or meditation, the students were encouraged to practice being mindful while completing simple tasks. The idea, according to G10 Project Week coordinator Ms. Kajsa Tuggey, was for students to develop mindfulness by focusing on simple tasks. By focusing, checking in with themselves, and slowing down while completing a task, students could practice mindful awareness.

Each day was also capped off by self-reflection time, which allowed everyone a space to breathe and think about the activities in a more deep and thoughtful manner.

At the end of the week, everyone went on hikes of varying difficulty levels to the Yunomaru area and Kurofuyama. According to Ms. Tuggey, “A hike is nice way to end the week because it is fun, it is a challenge, but a doable one, it is done together with peers, and student can reflect and apply some of the things that they learnt during the week.”

Angeles (G12, Venezuela), who is part of the Outdoor Education CAS group that helped to organize the afternoon outdoor activities, shared that “the aim for this project week was to make it less of an academic experience, but something that can contribute to the G10’s understanding of themselves and those around them.

“We wanted to plan the afternoon activities, so that the G10s were involved in something that was completely student-led, and eliminate a bit of that pressure that comes into place when you have an adult instructing you on what to do. We were seeking a balance in between learning factual knowledge and practicing hands-on skills in a fun way. We also wanted to help the faculty planning team, since we know how hard it is to coordinate Project Week, and we really wanted them to know that there are students that are happy to give them a hand!”

For Marco (G10, Italy), his favorite activity of the week was the spider-web activity, where the G10s had to work together to help their teammates get to the other side of the web through the holes. He shared, “We practiced our teamwork and we also got to know each other better through this activity. Everybody was 100% themselves and people really opened up to each other, which is important because I feel that we haven’t had the chance to really get to know one another since school started.”