As the last patches of snow melted from the Hakusanroku campus grounds and tiny buds of spring began to bloom, something else started fresh, too—our newest batch of freshmen!

 Hi, I’m Domyson Abuan, one of the Learning Mentors (LMs) here at ICT, and our team works closely with both 1st and 2nd year students. This April 2025, we opened our doors to welcome the incoming students who are just beginning their journey of learning, growing, and living here at the Hakusanroku campus.

 Each weeknight from 7:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M., we run Learning Sessions (LS)—a time dedicated to studying, doing homework, and building good study habits for students. And of course, us LMs are there to guide, support, and sometimes, just be a friendly face to talk to.

 To help our 1st year students ease into this new environment, we planned some fun and meaningful events to help them meet their schoolmates, and get a head start on the semester.

Kicking Things Off: Learning Session Orientation

 On Friday, April 4th, both 1st and 2nd year students gathered for our LS Orientation. We LMs introduced ourselves and gave a quick rundown of what the session is all about. Just like their morning classes, LS has a set of guidelines so everyone knows how to make the most of their evenings.

 One important part? English time! Students are encouraged to use English during LS so they can get used to it in preparation for their life in New Zealand when they are 3rd year students.

 We also introduced this year’s new activity: a Reading Laboratory where students read an article suited to their current level and answer a few questions to sharpen their reading comprehension.

 Afterwards, the 1st year students were given a short tour around the LS spaces—like where to find the announcements, where to grab study materials, and which rooms are used for quiet study and group work.

 Then, the real fun began.

Games, Giggles, and Getting to Know Each Other

 Back in the orientation room, it was time for some team-building games! First up was the Cup Stack Challenge. Divided into small groups, students had to work together using only a rubber band with strings (one per teammate) to stack paper cups into the tallest tower. With three rounds of fast-paced building, the room was filled with laughter, cheering, and a few dramatic cup crashes. Winners, of course, got snack prizes!

 Next was English Bingo, with questions about hobbies and personal interests. The goal? Talk to as many classmates as possible to complete your bingo sheet. It was a great icebreaker and got everyone chatting in English, asking questions, and realizing they already have things in common.

 To wrap things up, students worked together in groups to complete their STEM (Science subject) worksheets—an actual study task to help them prep for an upcoming quiz in their Chemistry class. They answered questions on laboratory safety and proper use of apparatus. We were really proud of how well they collaborated and focused, even after all the fun.

Welcome to the House System!

 On Wednesday, April 9th, excitement was in the air as the students were sorted into their Houses! Think Hogwarts vibes, but with homework points instead of magic spells. As each student discovered their house, you could hear laughter and surprise (“Yay! I'm with you!”) across the room.

 Meanwhile, the 2nd years, now seasoned pros, jumped right into earning points for their houses by completing homework and doing tasks. At the end of semester, the house with the most points wins the House Cup and a special reward. Let the friendly competition begin!

Karaoke, Board Games, and Bright Smiles

 To officially welcome the new students, we held a Welcome Party on Friday, April 11th. The 2nd years really stepped up—they helped set up games and even kicked off the karaoke session!

 One by one, students took the mic and sang their favorite hits. Many sang solo, some in groups, and others danced along. The room buzzed with energy and lots of laughter.

 There were board games, card games, and stacking challenges too—each bringing out bursts of cheers. A computer game even pulled a huge crowd, and before long, many were playing and bonding like old friends.

 Throughout the party, us teachers made our rounds, casually chatting with students in English about how they were settling in and what they looked forward to the most this semester - the chats were made more fun of course by delicious snacks.

 A Springboard into Something Special

 We hope these activities gave our freshmen a warm welcome and a strong start to their life here at Hakusanroku campus. With a new semester ahead, we're excited for more workshops, holiday events, and fun group challenges during our Learning Sessions.

 And yes—we’ll definitely keep you posted.

Domyson Abuan

Hullo, I’m Ian Stevenson, an English teacher here at ICT.

 Like the jack-o-lanterns , the tie-dye t-shirts have become an annual event at ICT. Unlike the jack-o-lanterns, the tie-dye t-shirts don’t happen at a fixed time. In the past tie-dye t-shirts have been made during Golden Week and September. This year it happened on Monday the 17th of February and Thursday the 20th February, 2025, when 13 students and 3 teachers came together at the Project Booth to make tie-dye t-shirts.

Once people began to arrive at the Project Booth, they chose what size t-shirt they wanted (S, M, L or XXL), made an apron from a garbage bag, got a pair of gloves and got ready to make their tie-dye t-shirt. Before beginning their t-shirt, a few different styles of tie-dye were explained (dot, stripe, spiral, tape and crumple) in case they wanted include them in their own design. After that it was time to tie-dye the t-shirt.

 Different people took different amounts of time to finish their t-shirt. As they finished, people hung their t-shirts up to dry and in one case, a student went off to wash their foot since they had accidentally dyed their toes green. By Wednesday, the t-shirts were dry and I washed out the excess dye from the t-shirts. If you don’t do this, then when you wash the t-shirt it will make all your white clothes multi-colored.

 On Thursday, people came back to the Project Booth to pick up their t-shirts. At this point, they had the option of further customizing and personalizing their and others’ t-shirts with fabric markers. Some people were happy with the t-shirt as it was and took their t-shirt back. Some people wanted to add more to their t-shirt and either drew characters or emphasized patterns on their t-shirt, or asked someone else to do so.

 It was a very messy, colorful and enjoyable time.

@ictkanazawa

2025年2月17日（月）、イアン先生主催の「タイダイ染めTシャツ作り」が開催されました！学生たちはTシャツをねじったり、くしゃくしゃにしたり、結んだりして、様々な模様に染めました。カラフルで個性的なデザインに仕上がりました🎨👕💫💕 #国際高専

♬ I WANT YOU BACK - TWICE

Ian Stevenson

Hello. This is Meguru Ito, one of the physics teachers at ICT. I am going to write about the illustration workshop held on Friday, February 14th and Tuesday, 18th, 2025. In February, Hakusanroku Campus has a special period called “Extracurricular Activity Period”. During this period regular classes aren’t held and various extracurricular activities are offered instead.
 For the last 2 years Mr. Ibuki Rev, an illustrator has led this workshop. Thank you Mr. Ibuki!
 The theme of this year's workshop was self-published comics, and students created self-published comics on the theme of “Kurihara Akane chan,” an original character created at last year's illustration workshop.
 On the first day, Mr. Ibuki gave a lecture on being an illustrator, developing characters, and the self-published comics medium, after that, each students created an illustration for the comic. On the second day, they compiled the date, printed the pages, and carried out the binding process. The students used a manual binding method, cutting the pages with a cutter and then stapling them together. Although they struggled with the process, they managed to create a high-quality booklet.
 Many of the students who participated in this workshop enjoy drawing, and they seemed to enjoy the process of completing their illustrations as a self-published comics. Although I myself do not draw, seeing the students' eyes light up makes me glad that I organized this workshop.
 Finally, I would like to thank Mr. Ibuki for his lectures over the two days! I truly appreciate his meticulous, engaging, and informative slides, as well as his kind guidance. Now, what shall we do next year?

Meguru Ito

Hello, I am Michihiro Hayashi, advisor of the Design & Fabrication Club. Since the 2nd semester final exams have ended, I was looking for an interesting activity to help students pass the time. Breaking things can be a good stress reliever, and coincidentally, I had two printers that I was planning to dispose of because they could no longer be repaired. So, I decided to hold a "Printer Disassembly Contest." Rather than simply destroying them, I thought it would be more meaningful to turn it into a competition, evaluating the beauty of the disassembly process. The two printers were A3-size inkjet printers. Printers are excellent machines to disassemble, as they incorporate a well-balanced combination of various elements: "Machine Elements" for paper feeding mechanisms, "Electrical Circuits" for driving motors and printheads, and "Electronic Circuits" for controlling touch panels and other components. Taking them apart offers a great learning opportunity.
 The contest was held on the afternoon of Saturday, February 1st, 2025. A total of seven students participated. They were divided into two teams, one with four members and the other with three, and the contest began.
 First, the students began by observing the exterior of the printer, checking for any visible screw threads and identifying which parts could be opened. Since home printers are often designed to hide screws for a cleaner appearance, the students initially had difficulty locating them. However, through careful observation and examination, they managed to find the screws that could be removed and proceeded with the disassembly, starting with the outer casings.
 As the disassembly progressed, various internal machine elements of the printer, such as shafts and bearings, gears, and belts, began to emerge. Since these components required the correct tools for proper disassembly, the students learned about different types of tools and their safe and appropriate usage from the instructor as they worked. Along the way, there were unexpected incidents, such as lubricant grease and ink splattering, but after two hours of hard work, they had managed to disassemble the printers down to the component parts.
 Finally, the students neatly arranged the disassembled parts, marking the end of the disassembly process. At this stage, they discussed various ideas on how to organize the parts—whether by material, function, or size. In the end, both teams primarily sorted the parts by material, likely because it would make disposal and recycling easier. After a thorough evaluation of tool usage, safety considerations, and overall technique, the winning team was determined. The champions were a group of three 1st year students, who demonstrated excellent skills throughout the contest. As their prize, they received a box full of snacks.
 Meanwhile, the snowfall outside the window was remarkable. Our school offers various indoor extracurricular activities like this one, but we also have many outdoor activities, such as skiing and snowboarding. I look forward to seeing students continue to participate in a wide range of activities with enthusiasm and energy.

Michihiro Hayashi

Michihiro Hayashi

  Hello everyone, it's your friendly teacher Hayato Ogawa unrelated to the Japanese drama, Extremely Inappropriate! It’s been a gray and dark winter here in Hakusanroku campus but the light at the end of the school year is upon us and it’s filled with new adventures and goals for the next school year! My background is in electrical engineering with programming and telecommunications. I enjoy designing, creating, fixing and tinkering.

 On Thursday, January 23rd, 2025, Tossa Mebusaya sensei and I held the final class in the Fundamentals of Business Management course. In the class students made their final business proposals. The proposals were a 3 to 5 minute pitch of an idea that would help develop a new awareness and help others have a better student life. The students have been working in teams from week 5 to bring awareness and resolve issues they have faced around and in school life.


The first group wanted to revise the process for requesting, acquiring and using the student discount for Japan Rail (JR) ticketing system. The target would help JR, students and the academic office staff who prepare the paperwork for this process. The current process is to acquire a student travel discount which is time consuming and frustrating. The students proposed a more direct and app-based solution and check system, all maintained in the JR ticket system. The app and check system has good security and user id confirmation checks to assure correct use by both student user and JR. This solution adds a new feature to the existing ticketing system and gates at JR by updating the check in check out system and creating a web application in conjunction with schools for ID checks and clearance for discount acquisitions. The students also proposed a strong revenue model and sustainable life cycle for the solution.

 

 

The second group brought awareness to the large amount of stink bugs in the area and on campus. This group’s proposed solution was a small robot that would incinerate the specific bug identified as a stink bug with a laser light source. With an interesting payment method where every time a stink bug is removed the user must pay per bug. With this revenue model it allows the homeowner or users to rent the robot from the company to in order to maintain a peaceful and stink free living space without the worry of stink bugs. 

 

 

The third group wanted to have more interaction with the cafeteria staff and the food preparation and consumption process. This group wanted to use the Gordon Ramsay tv show called Kitchen Nightmares show concept and have a culinary coach to come in to shake up the school menu. The students wanted to see how they could be involved in communicating interest, curiosity and familiar tastes to cafeteria staff and share ideas through food. What kind of new creations would be made. The students offered a workshop like experience to update and collaborate with the current kitchen staff of different offerings and themes. The revenue model is a onetime fee dependent on catering size of the school/company facility and cafeteria.

 

 

The fourth group wanted to tackle the issue of noise in the living areas or dormitories to alert and give friendly reminders to other tenants, of loud behavior or disruptive noises being generated accidentally. They came up with a small device to keep track of peak noise levels in individual rooms and let a central system know of issues and patterns while alerting the noise maker. The system and dataset are sold to the facility management company as a subscription service and as a rental for the sensor and monitoring system.

 

 

The fifth group wanted to resolve the issues on difficulty of reading blackboard notes, how to digitize them and, with the help of AI, decipher hard to read handwritten notes. Target users were the students and people who may have a disadvantage of seeing the blackboard due to seat position or eye condition. This business would sell a subscription to the academic facility and would be included in the digital media cost to students to aid everyone and have ease of access to tools to help with studying.

 

 

 

 

This type of business proposal is similar to the American tv show Shark Tank where contestants have a very limited time to concisely hit attractive and informative points to stakeholders and investors so they gain interest and confidence in investing in a product or service. It is important to hit key points and have an open area for investors to come back to schedule another meeting to discuss more details. 

Hayato Ogawa