On December 22, I attended the Activity Report and Information Exchange Session for Peer Supporters for English Medium Students, held by GLA Student Council on Osaka Ibaraki Campus. Today, I will be sharing some insights and what we have gathered through this event!
The primary purpose of the event was to exchange the knowledge and achievements of peer supporters at Ritsumeikan University. On behalf of SSP, I presented about our group and what we have achieved in 2022. The following images are the slides I used for the presentation.
Other peer support groups that participated in the event were Beyond Borders Plaza (BBP) Management Staff, College of Interational Relations, Global Studies Major Oritor Group at KIC, College of Liberal Arts (GLA) Student Council, Global Supporters, International House Resident Mentor (I-House RM), Library Staff, PMSG, and TISA. Throughout this session, I learned that each organization aims its own goal of creating more inclusive and diverse communities through its unique specialties and objectives. SSP, as an example, is looking forward to providing more support to both international and domestic students to improve their college life from academics to daily life. I feel that SSP focuses on helping students with their college life overall, as we provide various supporting activities such as consultation hours and seminars which all assist in improving the quality of college life. On the other hand, BBP is willing to create more interactions between exchange students and domestic students, but also collaborating with I-House RMs to help international students’ life in Japan. They seem to put their efforts into globalizing the university, and that both domestic and international students can experience cross-cultural college life at Ritsumeikan University.
It was very interesting to learn what other peer supporters have achieved in 2022. I think this event has helped us realize that all of us see the potential of a “collaborative relationship” between the groups, whether to host larger-scale events or provide more supporting tools for all students.
I want to thank GLA Student Council for organizing this event as well as all the peer supporters who shared their opinions and experiences during the session, and I hope that 2023 will be a prosperous year with more to achieve and provide even better supports for university students to grow and achieve their goals!
(Report: SSP Peer Supporter (OIC) Tada)