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Hello! I am Moyu Araki, a student who will be graduating soon, and I have the title of “ambassador” in APU! I think that our job title is well-known among the students, but few people know the true state of things. If you are keen to spread the attractiveness of the campus, exchange opinions with working professionals, or engage in taking care of kids, this article is for you!
ASA members (author is second from the left)
An APU Student Ambassador is a student staff member that works directly with the Office of the President. APU, one of the most distinctive universities in Japan, welcomes a wide variety of visitors. Therefore, you can guide campus tours for major companies, conduct presentations to primary school students, and attend discussions with parents organized by the university. Ambassadors are compensated for their duty as a part time job.
The reason why I entered this was to talk with professional people, with whom I would not get a chance to meet in ordinary college life. In addition, it was also a chance for me to make money on campus because it is easier when I have an on-campus class. Because the activity seemed interesting, I just took a chance and applied for it!
The total screening process consists of two stages: an online questionnaire and an interview. The entire process is completed in 1 month. For the online questionnaire, you are asked basic questions you’re your motivation and skills. For the interview, you might have to answer the questions from the Office of the President in your opposite language (if you are international student, it’s Japanese. If you are Japanese, it’s English). In this interview, you might be asked to show your presentation skills based on a prepared theme. After going through the process and getting accepted, you will have a training session with senior ambassadors. You can practice your campus tour skills and presentation skills here!
One day last year, I monitored presentations of 3 1st year students (1 domestic and 2 international students). I participated from Finland, which has a time difference of 7 hours from Japan. No matter where I am in the world, I could join ASA activities even online! I attempted to advise them the same way as I was lectured by a senpai when I was taking the same training: be nice and give advice considering the other person’s position. Being in a position to give advice as a senpai, I realized the growth in my presentation’s skills. Watching them also made me feel grateful to be a part of this network with such skillful people.
The training that I conducted on of November 15th,2022
The first task is presentations to primary school students. We conduct presentations about our native countries or APU life to elementary schools. Since my home country is Japan, I introduce Singapore, where I studied as a part of the APU summer program. I strongly recommend this job to people who love to take care of kids. The reactions of the kids for our presentations are adorable for sure. In addition, there are opportunities to learn about various cultures through the presentations of other members. For example, I didn’t know before participating in this team that Kazakhstan has cute clothes and Morocco has colorful and unique cuisine for eating with the whole family!
The second type of work is campus tours for visitors in both English and Japanese. We have chances to exchange information with various types of working professionals even while being students. For example, when I was in charge of the campus tour for the executives of the company who contracted our new building, they told me details of construction, and also, they listened to my recommendations as a student for additional improvement of construction! It was a good opportunity to understand my own school. In addition, I got a chance to talk with the executive of the company to which I applied for a job position. This could be a good chance to get to know a company that you are interested to work at by talking with people who actually work there in person.
Last but not least, I would like to describe other important activities. We are sometimes required to do jobs as a representee. For example, I conducted a presentation for parents of students as a representative of APU. At that time, I talked about my experience as a domestic exchange student and tips about taking classes in English for Japanese parents, along with professors and executives of the university.
-At the end
Message from the Office of the President
Nice to meet you! I am the staff member in charge of ASA in the President's Office.
APU relies on ASA, a student organization, to provide hospitality to guests who come to APU. The guests that come to APU range from dignitaries and ambassadors from various countries, people from the political and business world, to local elementary and junior high school students. We used to handle 300 cases and 4,000 people per year, but after overcoming the suspension of activities due to the Corona disaster, we have just recovered to 111 cases and 1,500 people this fiscal year, including those handled online.
This ASA initiative is unique among Japanese universities. It is a rare opportunity for university students, not faculty members, to talk frankly but with a twinkle in their eyes about their university and student life. By the end of the campus tour, we often receive comments from our guests such as, "I want to try being a university student again! We often receive such comments from our customers.
I believe that the students have gained valuable experience in broadening their perspectives not only through the horizontal connections within ASA, but also through the connections with the clients they have met through our activities.
THE ULTIMATE LIST OF APU ON-CAMPUS JOBS - STUDENTS STAFFS and some PART-TIME JOBS (PART 1)
*These are the academic grades as of March 2023, when this article was prepared.
Nice to meet you! I am a fourth year APS student who loves to try new things. I am 100% Japanese with no experience studying abroad by Japanese standards. I want to have academic conversations with my international student friends, so I'm taking advantage of quarantine to study English! Once things turn around, I'll be back on the road to various places~! Best regards.
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