スクリプトは事前提出されたものですので、ビデオの音声とは異なる場合があります。

Theater Leading Me To a New Stage

National Institute of Technology, Hakodate College

Three years have already passed since I moved from Aomori to enter the National Institute of Technology, Hakodate College. I am enjoying my life here and have some good friends. However, it wasn't always that perfect. I have had some difficult moments in Aomori but theater has saved me. Today, I would like to tell you what an important role theater has been playing in my life.

My first encounter with theater was in kindergarten. During the school festival, for my class performance, I played many roles on stage. I was thrilled to act out different characters with my classmates in front of a large audience. When they applauded, I felt satisfaction and accomplishment as I had created a new world with my classmates by performing in a play. From that day onwards, theater has been teaching me there was a new world to be found on stage.

A few years later, as I was to enter junior high school in Aomori, I suffered from school rejection syndrome, a form of school refusal. It lasted for almost two years during which time I wanted to go to school, whereas my body did not allow me to. Those were sad and stressful days for me. For months, being absent from school, I fell behind in my studies and lost confidence to catch up with my classmates. I couldn't break away from this vicious circle by myself. Fortunately, I received devoted care from my parents, my homeroom teacher, and my classmates who patiently waited for me to get better. Also, the school theater club members believed in me, believed I could recover and face adversity. Gradually, my health improved and I started going back to school as I became a third year student. Feeling less tired, I joined the theater club in their activities and was lucky the members accepted me without any prejudice. By stages, I was able to build up my strength day by day. For all these reasons, theater gave me a chance to find myself.

In autumn of the third year, I decided to enter Hakodate Kosen after graduating from junior high school. Until then, I vaguely thought of going to the high school closest to my house. That school had a good reputation, almost a prestige and seemed to be the best and safest choice for my career. However, while working on many characters for my plays, a different idea came to me. I wanted to break through and fight my weaknesses to become independent. In November of that same year, I heard of a good school for studying science, my favorite subject, a school which also had a dormitory. Therefore, I chose to become a student at Hakodate Kosen, away from my family. In that way, theater pushed me to challenge a new career path.

For the first three months of my new school life in Hakodate, I had some difficulties getting used to the college. But not once did I regret my decision since the school suits me and I have a very active school life. As I looked for a club to join, I realized however Hakodate Kosen did not have a theater club. This time, I was lucky to have some classmates supporting me as we started working for the club together. We decided to create it by ourselves, and it was approved by the student council in June of 2011, allowing the six of us to start activities that summer. In order to make our theater club unique, we created a play integrating scientific studies, thus educating the audience. At the Hakodate Science Festival held in the summer of 2013, we performed a play titled “Ocean story inside a cave”, which told the audience who came from all over the city why seaweeds have different colors in the ocean. Receiving a big applause, we realized our approach to combine science with theater was appreciated among the audience. It had given us a direction, a goal to recycle our studies within a play.

Theater has awakened, saved, and made me better by now. It has also helped me make friends as we work together for the plays. Currently, our theater club has ten members, almost double the original size. It proves that the club activity is appreciated among students of our school. Finally, theater has given me confidence to open up my potential. From now on, I would like to challenge myself, seeking my next stage. Thank you.