EGAKU for
Kids & Youth

The first semester of the EGAKU the Future Program for Musashino University High School has finished.
 
The theme for the final class was “The Future You Want to Create.” Many of the students’ comments seemed to reflect their resolve that the future isn’t something vague that you wait to happen to you, but is something that we - each of us - create.

• "I have so many dreams, and I thought I want to hold onto them and head towards a future full of hope." 
• "As I was painting, I realized that I’m trying to transform myself right in this moment."
• "There are wars going on in the world, and so I was praying for peace as I painted this picture. But as I prayed, I became aware of my own anxiety." 
• "I want to decide what I want to do in the future of my own will."

Below are some of the students’ reflections on their experience over the past half year, taken from their worksheets. 

• "When I was painting, I felt like I was talking to myself as I was painting."
• "I feel like I’ve become closer to everyone through the pictures, it’s interesting how there are so many different values!"
• "Through the creative process I realized how I really think, and it inspired a new way of thinking."
• "During the exercise of seeing art, by adopting an inquisitive mindset and using my five senses to ‘see’ the picture, it expanded the world I saw in the picture."
• "I thought my opinion was just like any other, but I realized that it’s neither ordinary nor so commonplace - it’s something unique to me."
• The half-year program wrapped up with students coming up with a message to their 27 year-old self, ten years from now.

These powerful messages - words which they weren’t taught but emerged from their personal experience - seemed to reflect their personal growth over the past half year, giving our team, program mentors and staff, a great sense of hope.