TOMODACHI High School Women Career Mentoring Online Program in Tohoku STEP 1: Almost 90 Students Challenge Themselves Through Dance and Music Workshop

On October 24, 25, and November 8, 2020, STEP 1 of the TOMODACHI High School Women Career Mentoring Online Program in Tohoku supported by the TOMODACHI Combini Fund, titled “Global E-Workshop” was held online, attended by almost 90 high school students from Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima Prefectures.

During the program, participants are divided into groups of six to seven students. Fifteen TOMODACHI Alumni, who are university/technical school students and also from the Tohoku region, closely support each of the groups as mentors. In addition, three university students from Tohoku plan and organize the program as Project Assistants (PA).

Before STEP 1, the Opening Session and Team Session were held online on October 4. The participants became acquainted with one another, and after listening to presentations by the PAs and mentors on “My Challenges in High School,” the participants expressed the ways they hope to change and grow through the four-month program.

STEP 1 consists of a two-day singing, dancing, and self-expression workshop, and a “Watch Party,” in which participants watch the show (video clip) they made. Although the participants were both excited and nervous right after the workshop started, they enjoyed singing and dancing with the encouragement and support of the Young Americans alumni, who led the workshop. At the “Watch Party,” participants gathered to watch the show, which was a compilation of their performances during the workshop and the videos the participants submitted individually. After STEP 1, the students commented, “Joining the workshop made me less worried about making mistakes and failing,” and “Everyone was singing and dancing while being themselves and it made me glad I joined the program.”