This past weekend, Ms. Chie Helinski and 19 AP Japanese students met with 19 students of Kani High school (our Global Classmates sister school) via Zoom and played Among US. In addition to the host organization, Kizuna Across Culture, and the Kani HS teacher, three senpai (who work with the paired schools and assist the cultural exchange) joined. One of the senpai was my former student, Yijia Zou!
The event lasted for 2.5 hours. Going to the breakout rooms was fun as I heard the Kani students spoke English and the Stuy students spoke Japanese to get the game going. The students enjoyed it so much that they will again via Zoom in February.
Separately, On Monday, 12 Stuy students attended a discussion with Ms. Michiko Hattori, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Zoom. It was organized by Peace Boat and #Youth4Disarmament. it is becoming increasingly difficult to hear the firsthand experience of the atomic bombs as the survivors are getting old. It was a powerful and poignant presentation, and the students had a chance to ask Ms .Hattori questions. Here are what two students thought of the event.
Matthew Monge, freshman
"This event was very much meaningful to me, I started getting emotional towards the beginning, one of my classmates even texted me to make sure I was ok, and it really brought to my attention the harsh truths of the past and how we need to learn and work from them. It reminded me that life is hard and very cruel, but we can only try our best to learn and improve it. It was a reality check for me and let me know that there is way more in life to worry about other than school, and that the main goal of our lives is to help make the world a better place."
Yihan Bao, a sophomore
"It was my pleasure to be present in tonight’s speaker event. After hearing about Ms. Hattori’s story of how she survived the nuclear bomb in Hiroshima both physically and emotionally, I felt really compelled to contribute to the effort of banning nuclear weapons from the earth. Ms. Hattori’s perseverance to survive and spread her anecdote to help prevent future nuclear weapon events really opened my eyes to the extraordinary value of every individual life, how Ms. Hattori’s devotion of much of her life to being an hibakusha can possibly prevent millions of people from suffering the same hell she had endured. Recently, I have been hearing several stories about one’s grief about not being able to show their late friends/families about their life achievements because they achieved it too late, which motivates me to become involved in this anti-nuclear movement in any way if possible and compels me to wanting to strive with those already in this movement to make banning nuclear weapons a reality as soon as possible, and Make Ms.Hattori proud of her achievements and her wish come true."
