What makes the GIS community so special is that everyone is treated as equals. At GIS, since the number of students is smaller than other departments you find yourself getting along with your fellow classmates, seniors, and professors more.

Yes, ‘closeness’ is really special. Because of the small sized departments, we all feel like we are one big family; not only people in the same year but people in different years as well. We all feel like we are part of something that makes everyday university life better.

I think the diversity of not only students but also professors is what makes the community at GIS special. Since we are aware that we all came from very different backgrounds, acceptance and respecting others are something that we can naturally do.

I agree with Kaito and Asuka. I think the special feature of the GIS community is the close and warm atmosphere. Although not everyday is easy in university life, your friends and professors are always there to help you. Also, your bond with the other students will not be limited to your grade. Throughout our classes and free time, we have many chances to be able to interact with students from other grades as well. This special atmosphere was why I chose GIS and my experiences were better than I expected.

I am involved in Open Campus so this is the first thing that comes to my mind. Through the activity, I could interact with both upper-level students in the 3rd and 4th years as well as future GIS students.

Yes, definitely! The main purpose of the Open Campus team is to introduce Hosei University to high school students and to introduce what is waiting for them after entering GIS. High school is very different to university, so I was trying my best to let high school students imagine their life in GIS.

Despite the fact that we cannot go to the campus, I just wanted to provide the Virtual Common Room where students, especially freshmen were able to interact with others. I know how hard it is for freshmen to keep up with the new environment, plus online styles that no one ever had experienced before. I thought upper-level students should help them out so we created the place where students can ask us anything once a week. Other than that, we were involved in creating welcome sessions for first-year and fall-intake students.

The activities I do to contribute to the GIS community is to both ask and provide information about my past experiences as well as some tips for the classes that I have previously taken. Doing this has allowed for this close-knit community to thrive and create an everlasting trend of support.

As an open campus member, I have tried to use the connections I have been able to obtain throughout this experience and to become a bridge within and between the grades to create a sense of community in GIS as a whole. This is due to the fact that the bonds between the students helped me greatly in my first and second years of GIS.

I learned to be who I am, to get out of the box of fixed concepts since there are many people who have unique experiences.

Since GIS offers a liberal arts education, I found my academic interest that I would have never imagined when I was in high school. The atmosphere of GIS also made me more open-minded.

I believe by being in GIS community I have become more confident in myself. In GIS, with the small classes every student has a great opportunity where we can share our ideas and thoughts. By challenging myself a lot through such discussions and presentations, I consider myself to have grown a lot throughout these four years of GIS, so that I am more confident and brave in many ways.

The GIS community has provided me with a second family throughout my campus life here at Hosei. I have never felt alone when tackling difficult tasks and always thrived by discussing how to approach upcoming tests, essays, and presentations throughout the school years.

At GIS, the community has given me a chance to interact with many students with diverse backgrounds. This has helped me obtain new ways of looking at things. This diversity has also given me a place where I can express myself without being scared of being different or wrong since my friends are accepting and share their opinions openly if they have different views.

To be honest, when I was a third year of high school I did not know what GIS was. After entering GIS I heard that the Open Campus is where I can be a member and able to introduce the greatness of GIS to every high school student who is still thinking and struggling about their future. Being in Open Campus has been one of the most amazing things I have experienced throughout my university life.

Yes, me too. When I was a third year student in high school I attended open campus here. It really helped me decide the way I wanted to pursue for my educational path through talking with OC staff and I thought what they were doing was so cool! Therefore, I joined the community as soon as I entered Hosei. The experience of talking to high school students and welcoming them the following spring is the best thing ever because I feel like I am involved in their career decision-making process at some point.

Totally. My motivation of joining the OC team was also my own experience of visiting the OC of GIS when I was a high school student and meeting the OC staff of that time. I could tell by their passion and energy that they loved the faculty and they gave me lots of useful advice that were not only on studying. This was the reason why GIS became my dream faculty and I wanted to pass this on.

I guess we all feel this. I was very moved by the GIS OC staff member I met to display the same attitude and determination for the upcoming students who were in my position, scared about college applications. I wanted to keep the positive influence going and to be part of the program that does this.

At first, it was a bit hard to adjust and weird to see everyone on the screen. Everyone said that it is embarrassing and can get very awkward to talk in front of camera with straight attention to speakers every time. However, since professors are very flexible and understanding of those difficulties, students are now professionals of attending online classes! We got used to this style and are actually quite interactive while we are discussing issues in class.

As I mentioned, there was a complete lack of contact with first-years in the spring semester because no one went to the campus. Hence, OC staff creating interactive time online contributed so much to getting to know each other while other departments do not have this kind of opportunity. Creating connections with students at GIS helps to have caring relationships with each other. Through things like the Virtual Common Room we can check how they are doing and what is happening. Having a place to talk about it helps mentally as well especially in these difficult times. Within the staff, I feel more kindness and connections than before because every staff is very thoughtful and reliable! They always helped me create a better environment for everyone online. I am extremely glad that I am part of this community!