In this blog post, I’ll summarize what I learned and felt based on my academic efforts, various school activities, and experiences with compassion, sharing, and collaboration during my time in high school.
Academic Experiences and Reflections
The high school I attended offered an intensive English program, featuring resident native-speaking instructors and a variety of advanced English programs during creative class periods. Thanks to this environment, I was able to steadily improve my English speaking and writing skills. I practiced English reading comprehension through self-directed study, reinforced my grammar through regular classes, and built my vocabulary through daily vocabulary tests.
However, I realized that it was difficult to sufficiently train in areas such as speaking, listening, and writing through the regular curriculum alone. Therefore, I improved my skills by supplementing my studies with the advanced English programs offered during creative class periods. The teacher in charge suggested that even as students at a general high school, we should aim to learn English as deeply as students at a foreign language high school, and following that advice, I actively utilized the school’s creative class periods.
The activities we did in the creative classes were diverse, including writing English newspapers, simple debates, and conducting Model United Nations sessions, but among them, the English play was the most interesting. An English play is more than just memorizing and reciting a script; it’s training in portraying situations and expressing emotions, which greatly helped improve my conversational skills.
The play I was part of was a Sherlock Holmes production, and I played the role of Holmes, taking on the part of the detective. As the lead character, I had to memorize a lot of lines and felt a great sense of responsibility, so I practiced extensively. At first, memorizing such a large amount of dialogue felt overwhelming, but as I rehearsed with my friends and synchronized our timing, the lines came naturally, and I was able to use the appropriate intonation and expressions for each situation.
The greatest insight I gained from the play was the realization that speaking while acting out real-life situations is far more efficient and memorable than rote memorization. The experience of creating dialogue, rather than memorizing textbook passages, quickly improved my speaking skills and gave me confidence.
Write about major school activities and your reflections
The clubs at our school were divided into research, hobby, and certification clubs. To relieve academic stress and exam pressure, I joined a DIY craft club, which was one of the hobby clubs. Regular crafting sessions helped relieve the tension caused by studying, and I found great joy in making things with my hands to decorate my space.
I’ve always enjoyed making my own decorations to spruce up my room. While I sometimes bought items from online shops, I also enjoyed the hobby of purchasing patterns and kits to create things myself. For example, I would buy cross-stitch kits to make wall hangings or repeatedly complete small projects by following patterns.
What set this club apart was that we didn’t just work individually—we also created projects as a team. We decided on weekly assignments through meetings, and I even introduced the crafting techniques I knew to my fellow club members. Brainstorming ideas together and dividing up tasks improved the quality of our finished products and made the process itself enjoyable.
The most memorable projects were the group embroidery piece, the non-woven fabric dolls, and the stool-making project. For the group embroidery, several of us divided up a large design and completed it by stitching cross-stitches; I was particularly impressed by how we took a creative approach by modifying the kit’s basic design and thread types. By taking responsibility for and completing our assigned sections, we were able to cultivate both a sense of teamwork and an eye for detailed design.
For the non-woven fabric dolls, instead of following the original kit exactly, we substituted materials we could find around us. We used leftover non-woven fabric from decorating the club room as the outer fabric and brought old clothes from home to use as stuffing. For the sewing, we reused the thread and needles from the cross-stitch project, leaving the stitches visible on the outside to capture the charm of hand-sewn dolls.
The stool-making activity, which I proposed, was also very meaningful. I suggested that instead of using a standard chair with a backrest, we try making a simple stool ourselves. We gathered wood and metal legs, measured the height, crafted the seat, and assembled the pieces to complete the stool. Although it wasn’t as sturdy as a professional-grade stool, the experience of bringing an idea to life as a tangible object was deeply rewarding.
Through club activities like these, I learned how to exercise creativity, how to use materials to create tangible objects, and how to collaborate with others to achieve a common goal. As our individual hobbies expanded into collective projects, both our design sensibilities and teamwork skills grew simultaneously.
Examples of Consideration, Sharing, and Cooperation, and Reflections
Our club activities also led to preparations for the school festival. As a hobby club, we had an advantage over research or certification clubs when it came to running a booth at the festival, and the fact that we could sell products we made ourselves was a major motivator. Starting a month before the festival, club members worked together to plan and produce our merchandise, spending our days in a flurry of activity.
The process of turning our creations into marketable products went beyond simply making them; we also had to consider packaging and display. We finished our stitched artworks by mounting them in frames and neatly packaged our stuffed animals to transform them into sale-ready items. We prepared over ten different items, and the response was so positive that we even received pre-orders for our most popular products.
To meet sales demand, we also streamlined our production methods. For example, doll production shifted from a single person handling the entire process to a system where roles were divided. By dividing tasks—such as one person stitching the non-woven fabric, another inserting the stuffing, and a third applying the finishing stitches—we improved both production speed and quality.
In addition to production, I was primarily active on the DIY booth operations team. Setting up the booth—which involved erecting a tent and decorating the interior—was labor-intensive work, but for the display stands, we utilized materials we had saved from making stools earlier. We built extended tables using large planks and metal legs, then covered them with the wide non-woven fabric we’d used for doll-making to complete the display stands.
I also set up stools so club members could sit comfortably, and stacked the remaining stools in boxes for storage so they could be quickly retrieved when crowds gathered. Thanks to these preparations, we were able to efficiently display and sell our products throughout the festival.
Through this process, I learned the practical value of cooperation. I came to understand firsthand that better results come when we reuse resources, share responsibilities, and fill in for each other’s shortcomings. Furthermore, the experience of planning, setting priorities, and executing them fostered a sense of responsibility, and by observing consumer reactions firsthand, I realized the importance of planning.
Finally, what I took away from our club activities and the festival preparations is that small acts of consideration and sharing can create great strength. By sharing materials and know-how and helping one another, we were able to produce better results than expected while also creating wonderful memories.
