On August 4 (Tue.) and 5 (Wed.), five students from our high school teamed up with three students from the Affiliated Senior High School of National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to participate in the World Youth Meeting (WYM), held at Ritsumeikan University's Osaka Ibaraki Campus. Their outstanding performance earned them the Platinum Award.

Now in its 28th year, WYM is an English presentation competition for high school and university students supported by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Participants form international teams and give presentations in English on social issues.

In preparation for the competition, our students and their Taiwanese teammates began communicating online and through social media even before the Taiwanese students arrived in Japan, working together to develop and prepare their presentation. From July 31, the Taiwanese students stayed with the families of our students and practiced their presentation together in person.

At the competition, the team gave a seven-minute presentation in English on the theme of "Continuity of Learning During Disasters", proposing ideas for ensuring that education can continue even when a disaster occurs. The team was highly praised not only for communicating their ideas clearly within the limited time but also for working together effectively to respond to questions during the Q&A session. Their strong performance earned them the Platinum Award.

The eight students worked together across national and cultural differences, preparing toward a shared goal. Through this experience, they greatly strengthened not only their ability to communicate their ideas in English but also their ability to understand and collaborate with one another. We look forward to seeing their continued success in the future.