for Junior and Senior High School Students
VOICE of Participants
Participant's comment 1
TOPPA!! is a place that has given me great inspiration. I was hoping to go to an overseas university, and thought that I should get myself ready before starting university life, so I participated in this "TOPPA !!". By learning business strategies that are not taught at school, and learning from instructors who have various experiences and abilities required not only in universities but also in society, I was able to solve problems from a new perspective. Because the program was carried out over a long period of time, in this three months, I was not only able to engage with many peopl, but also realized my own new challenges. In addition to being taught in lectures, I feel that I was able to acquire the ability to actually use my knowledge and skill through group work during each lectures. I am convinced that my experience of learning with people who think alike will strongly improve my skills in the future.
——Sora Kamigaki, Hiroshima, Japan, 3rd year of High school
Participant comment 2
Toppa is a place where you could do things that you couldn't usually learn or experience at school. At TOPPA,
we have to propose a business from a state where we do not know anything about the person on the same team. During the activity,
I was able to think a lot about how to get along with people I met for the first time, how to communicate well, and how to cooperate. I think that when we grow up, there are many circumstances where you meet people for the first time and solve problems together.
Therefore, I think that this TOPPA program was a program that enables us to learn new knowledge, and help us progress one step closer towards working adults.
——— Japan, 2nd grade of High school
Participant comment 3
I think that the project has given me a very valuable experience in terms of creating a business from scratch and building teamwork. I am grateful that I got to receive a lot of great advice from the guest teachers, who all taught us in innovative and creative ways with all of their heart. They used games and role-plays to make the scene more realistic and learning more interesting. Their presentations were our role models when we presented our business models.
We also had to work entirely in English. It was tough, trying to communicate as it was a language many of us were not familiar with; we struggled to share ideas but the great mentors supported us. They gave us professional advice, was always there during coffee chats. I didn’t know how to lead the team, so Mr Kono gave me advice on motivating others.
Finally, because we are all serious about solving society’s problems, we had to think deeply about what was expected of us and what was required to improve the situation. As we were constantly required to look to our values during the project, I realised what was truly important to me. The experience will definitely help me in making choices in the future.
Overall, I am extremely glad that I participated in this project, Thank you so much MIRAIing team!
———— Midori, Malaysia, 2nd grade of Middle school
Parent's comment
I think that taking lectures and discussing with junior and senior high school students from all over Japan has broadened my son's horizons. Also, as he proceeded with the project as a team, he was initially a bit confused about how to use new tools and how to communicate with his team members, but soon he found out what he could do to contribute to the team, and began to actively engage in the program. My son usually doesn't talk a lot, but he started to ask us for advice, probably because he wanted to come up with a better idea in order to contribute to the team, so it was a fun experience for us parents and our children to discuss.
———— Tokyo, 2nd grade of Middle school