Support Archives - UWC ISAK Japan

The Importance of Perspective in Leadership

Diversity, Support / March 15, 2019 February 13, 2020

“Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate to and connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives.” -Oprah Winfrey

Sympathy is a good thing. It comes from a sincere compassion for the well-being of others. The world needs more of it. But there is something intrinsically unique and powerful about empathy, where shared experiences help people connect on a deeper level that rooted in mutual understanding. This understanding is what makes empathy transformational.

A recent unit in Mr. McGibbon’s Leading With Others course sought to explore the concept of

New leaders poised to keep SNOW rolling

Action, Community, Support / February 22, 2019 February 13, 2020

Written by Denzel (Class of 2019, Zimbabwe)

As outlined in a previous blog post, SNOW is UWC ISAK Japan’s reformed Student Union. It stands for Seito NO Wa and the mission of SNOW is “to provide structure and resources for students to take initiatives for the better of the community.”

Over the course of the past year, Ayana (Class of 2019, Japan) and myself took a back-seat approach and became facilitators of SNOW who would be there to assist the current members when needed. We did this to allow the Grade 11 and Grade 10 students to have

Winter Work Program

Community, Support / February 8, 2019 February 13, 2020

During winter break, many of our students use the time to travel or return home. This year a number of students made a different choice—stay in Japan and join the winter work program.

Beginning in December 2018 and running through the first week of January, UWC ISAK Japan ran a program aimed at providing employment opportunities for students who remained in Japan. This year 51 students joined the program and were sent to various locations, ranging from right here in Karuizawa to the foot of Mt.Gassan in (very) wintery Yamagata, about 500 kms from campus.

“We wanted to find a

Expanding our Professional Network

Diversity, Support / January 18, 2019 February 13, 2020

One Life Realize Your Potential Be a Catalyst for Positive Change

What do you hope to do with the one life you have to live? This is a difficult question for many of us, and a question that many of us explore throughout our lifetime – a question about our purpose. According to Bill Damon, purpose is “a stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at the same time meaningful to the self and consequential for the world beyond the self.”

In order to explore their purpose, through a series of activities in the G10 Leading

What We Learned About Leading by Building “The Dome”

Action, Community, Passion, Support / December 15, 2018 February 13, 2020

Getting Started

At USC ISAK Japan, leadership is a central concept. We endeavor to weave a thread of leadership into all of our programs, but it’s in our core leadership courses—Leading with Self and Leading with Others—that this thread ties everything together. These courses encourage students to not only think about leadership concepts, but to try them out, and this is where the fun comes in.

Two of our Grade 10 students, Aideen and Olivia, recently began to stretch their leadership muscles with a new project to build a geodesic dome on campus. Both of them had individually identified a

External Mentors Guide Leadership Projects

Passion, Support / November 30, 2018 February 13, 2020

At Grade 11, all our students embark on human-centered, collaborative, and action-based leadership projects as part of the CAS component of the IB Diploma. All these projects are entirely student-led, from conception to execution, with a faculty advisor who oversees the project. This year, in our bid to help our students best achieve their project goals, we are incredibly excited to have external mentors join and guide them in the process. These external mentors are seasoned professionals in their fields, and include entrepreneurs, a university professor, a human rights activist and more.

In the weeks leading up to our Fall

New Student Group, SNOW, Is Starting

Action, Community, Diversity, Passion, Support / November 2, 2018 February 13, 2020

Written by Ayana (Class of 2019, Japan)

A group of students has taken over what used to be known as Student Union, and is rebooting it as SNOW – Seito No Wa. Seito means “students” in Japanese, and Wa can mean “circle”, “harmony”, or “talk” depending on the Kanji used. The mission of the group is “To provide structure and resources for students to take initiatives for the better of the community”, and the group aspires to do so through three different committees.

The three committees are: assembly, problem solving, and mission outreach. They all consist of three to six

Empowering Changemakers in English Lessons

Support / September 25, 2018 February 13, 2020

Written by Jonathan Osorio Mr. Osorio teaches English at UWC ISAK Japan.

The glossed over blank stare. As a teacher, my greatest nightmare is the look of a student who has disengaged. On the flip side, I find immense satisfaction in helping my students further their understanding of the world through their passions. My students’ incredulous expressions when I tell them, “For class, I want you to go read an article about your favorite sports team, travel spot, musician, or any other interest you may have” bring me much amusement. Of course, there are a few strings attached as to

Inspiring Stories from the UWC ISAK Japan Community