Throughout the art club, we want students to be able to experience, find joy and opportunity in art, and also improve their skills. We find many students already enjoy art, but find it disappointing that art classes are really short. This art club will also be for those students who want to try art but unfortunately don’t have the opportunity to. Furthermore, many students focus on their academics more as they go up their grades. We aspire that the periods of the club will be able to become a time for students to relax and take a break from their studies through art. Art club is encouraged even for the students that had never really interacted with art. We believe that students can open their eyes to the joy of art, and the art club can be an opportunity for these students. We personally really enjoy art, we would be ecstatic to create a club where students can finally enjoy it.

Box Gallery is a club that upcycles used materials like cardboard boxes, plastic pet bottles, aluminium cans, and many more to make artworks. At the start of the semester, our club members will research social and environmental issues the world is facing by looking deeply into the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. After gaining some knowledge on these issues, members will draw out a sketch. As a team, we will discuss ways to use plastic and paper waste efficiently and in the best way of portraying our ideas. Throughout this process, we are trying to achieve two main goals.

First of all, by completely transforming waste (garbage) into beautiful works of art, we would be adding new value to plastic/paper waste. This could also help reduce waste and save natural resources that are used to make factory-made canvases and other art materials. 

Second, we aim to educate the students at ISSH about current issues and motivate them to take action. We believe that art is a highly effective way to raise awareness because it is eye-catching and communicative. Even though these efforts might look small at first, if we are successful this year, we are also looking forward to expanding the club into influencing our society on a bigger scale. Our final aim is to finish our projects by the end of the semester and have it displayed around the school. This will help ISSH students form interest in such social and environmental issues, and stimulate them to take action.

Coding Club is a place where students can share their interest in coding and computer science. In the society where we use computers almost all the time, coding skill is one of the important skills to have. In the coding club, students can not only learn and practice coding skills, but with the coding skill, they can also learn problem solving and logic skills. Some of the activities that we plan to do are Hackathons. Hackathon is an event in which students create computer programs and compete against each other. Our plan for this year is to refresh and learn coding languages in the first few weeks to prepare for doing Hackathons and other fun coding activities which we will be doing in the rest of the year. In the Hackathon that we are doing in the club, the club members are going to decide what topic we want to focus on such as environmental issues, academics, and other issues in the world. Then we will decide on groups and build programs which tackle the issues around the world. Coding Club is a new club in the school, and we hope this year will be a memorable, educational, and fun year for members.

The purpose of the Mock Trial Club will be to create a courtroom simulation that club members will be able to participate in. To develop the skills required in a courtroom simulation, club members will learn terms & vocabulary, watch mock trials and develop their public speaking skills through numerous games. 

At each meeting we will start one mock trial with predetermined roles by the club members, which they will sign up for at the first meeting. Members of the club will actively participate in every mock trial, their role for each meeting shouldn’t affect how they participate. 

The mock trial should last 20 minutes, however if the trial exceeds the limit the trial can continue on to the next meeting. On days when we won’t start a trial we will go over vocabulary, watch mock trial videos online and play games that the club members come up with. Club members will also be encouraged to come up with a mock trial situation to use at one of the club meetings. 

Our goal for the club this year will be to have everyone confidently participate in a mock trial and actively discuss results of the mock trials with other club members. Every club member will learn and develop their public speaking skills, which should help them in presentations in class and in the future. 

Our club will be sponsored by Mr. Amster, and we will meet every week on Thursday. We hope to make this a permanent Sacred Heart club as we believe that it will be a place for people who are interested in studying law or improving their public speaking skills.

Dance Club provides the hub for students to practice their dance skills while having fun! Students work with self-organized teams and learn the choreography of their choice, and showcase their hard work through a performance every semester. Due to the COVID-19 protocols, we are most likely to hold performances online by uploading our performance videos on a private Youtube channel. This year, we have created new programs, such as the monthly checkup sessions, and have also decided to cooperate with the Silver Screen club for the filming, editing, and uploading of the semester performance videos. We also have an ambitious goal to participate in a national or regional dance event that would provide the opportunity to perform on a larger stage.

Our club’s other main purposes are to boost confidence and develop cooperation skills! Although preparation for these performances is hard work and requires a lot of extra practice outside of the weekly club meetings, we believe that the process of preparation is worth it! It gives the chance for students to step out of their comfort zones and to socialize with upper-class(wo)men/underclass(wo)men.

Ekispo is a combination of last year’s Ekiden and Sports club. This year, with our sponsor’s help, we hope to create an atmosphere and environment for athletes and students interested in sports to train and improve their skills whilst having fun. 

At the moment, we are hoping to host/participate in 5 main events: a fall students vs teachers week, the mikan relay, undoukai, spring students vs teachers week, and the jyagaimo relay. Through these events, students can participate in fun fundraising events while honing their athletic capabilities. Most importantly, we give students opportunities to raise their Symbas spirit through a shared love for sports and through the building of a community for Symbas athletes outside of seasonal sports. We will make sure that this club will be one of the places for the student athletes to sincerely have fun and share our energies and invigorate students throughout the school.

Coming soon!

The purpose of the Girls Club is to educate, support, and empower feminism.  As students who attend a girls school and are empowered on a daily basis, we believe that it is important to hold an active role in contributing to the betterment and empowerment of girls everywhere.  Our club is also open to everyone; those who are willing to make a change in our community, as well as those who do not know what feminism is are welcome to join. 

Club members are separated into three committees - the pad project committee, the sticker committee, and the social media committee.  The main project of the club is led by the pad project committee, where the members raise donations to make pads and send them to the girls in Secondary Kalika Highschool in Nepal.  The sticker committee also helps to raise donations by making and selling stickers to the students in our school, and the social media committee’s aim is to spread and raise awareness for feminism.  In usual years the club members visit Secondary Kalika Highschool to directly help, and ask the girls for any suggestions or improvements that can be made for what we bring them.  Starting from last year, however, we have been working to raise donations to buy a pad machine for the girls in Nepal, so that they are able to make their own pads.  

The Girls Club hopes that we can continue to inspire and empower the lives of many people again this year.  GO GIRLS!!

The Gender and Sexuality Alliance, or the GSA, is a private and safe environment for high school students to learn about, connect with, and talk about the LGBTQ+ community. People of all sexual orientations or genders are welcome to join! 

Our goals as a club are education, support and community:

Education:

By providing our members resources, the GSA is able to expand their knowledge and view of the world by learning historical and current issues related to the LGBTQ+ community.

Support:

The GSA provides a safe and supportive environment for students who are exploring their gender identity and sexual orientation. Through the club, students who are part of the community can find others like themselves at our school.

Even outside of the club itself, the GSA plans to continue a plan we began this year to further diversify our school library by bringing in books with LGBTQ+ themes and characters. We hope this project can help support students looking for queer representation in media. 

Community:

The GSA values our connection with LGBTQ+ people outside of our school, and with the international LGBTQ+ community. By learning from other GSA in the Kanto Plain School Association as well as raising funds to donate to LGBTQ+ non-profit organizations, our club promotes awareness about the community as a whole, and how we can help those who are less fortunate than we may be.

Beyond the LGBTQ+ community and its allies, the GSA works towards making the school environment a more accepting environment for queer and questioning students. To do this, the GSA will be creating informative posters about the community as well as making presentations to the high school to educate the student body about the LGBTQ+ community and its often ignored history. 

The GSA is a safe, non-judgemental space to learn, support and have fun! We cannot wait to get started on our exciting plans for this school year.

Even for people who don’t really know Korea or its culture, they must have heard about some particular k-pop idols, Korean dramas, or Korean movies. And when they do watch or see them, there would be a particular scene or phrase that you don’t really understand, because it’s a ‘Korean thing’. Our club, the Korean Culture Club, would help people better understand some of those cultural aspects, and experience them at the same time. The members can bring their own ideas for choosing an activity, such as showing others what they enjoyed about a particular scene in a drama/movie or choosing a song they want to share. Then, as a group, we can understand the meaning, or enjoy the activity that was shown in the particular scene. We would meet every other week, on Fridays, and would switch between learning phrases, and activities every other week.

Medical Society is a club created to encourage interest in science and allow people who are curious about the medical field to gain some experience in what a career in it may entail. As a science-focused club, we want to encourage a love for science and create a space where members can express and explore their interests.

The goals we have this year are: focusing on the importance of public health, university requirements in different countries for pre-med (in collaboration with Ms. Sin), and awareness for mental health of healthcare workers. 

In the meetings we will be conducting fun experiments, collaborative activities and discussions. Although it is medicine focused, our meetings will be light and applicable to anyone interested in biology or any kind of science.

Experiments will include testing mask efficacy with different types of mask materials to compare filtration quality. We hope to share our results in an assembly to encourage reliable, preventative measures against COVID and other diseases. 

We will have discussions on the importance of healthcare workers in our communities and increase awareness about doctors’ mental health. One project we will be doing this year is sending uplifting messages to show our gratitude and appreciation to staff at hospitals in Tokyo.

We will alternate between informative discussions such as these and more creative activities such as anatomy models, where club members can research and build their own clay models.

We also hope to have zoom sessions with guest speakers with alumni and professionals who work in the medical field. Specifically, club members can hear about their preparation and experiences in college, or ask science career related questions.

Open Minds Society is a club dedicated to spreading mental health awareness. Through researching mental health issues and inviting guest speakers from outside organizations, our club strives to educate ourselves further on mental health, and promote mental health awareness in our school community. In the previous year, we have created podcast episodes, organized a school-wide letter exchanging project, and participated in TELL’s Step Up Challenge event to encourage conversations about mental health, and inform our community on various ways we can take care of our mental health and help others. We hope to bring further impact to our school as well as Tokyo by continuing to be involved in TELL, an English lifeline NPO, as well as sending mental health care packages to food banks and shelters.

In the Rooftop Gardening club, students can come to embrace nature, help create a greener campus at Sacred Heart, and learn more about the processes of gardening and growing plants! Throughout the year, our club will grow a variety of plants such as rosemary, basil, and tomatoes in a small garden around the school. It’s a perfect opportunity for the students to step away from their academic life and have fun gardening while bonding with people from different grades. There are many fun activities planned for this year, such as interviewing plant experts, updating the newsletter with what goes on in the club, and maybe even helping out the junior school in their planting project for this year. Our club would also like to focus on environmental issues present in our world today, and help raise awareness for them. Rooftop gardening club is the perfect place for students to relax, have fun, and embrace nature!

Silver Screen is a club made for members who have an existing interest in filmmaking, but also for people who may find this topic completely alien. The name derives from the idiom, “the silver screen”, meaning the cinema industry. 

In this club, members and leaders have three main goals. First, to watch. We will be watching short clips of award-winning films or lesser-known films, as well as technique video explanations to expand our already-existing film knowledge or to introduce it. Second, to analyze. By watching these short clips, we will discuss how and why the director might’ve filmed a shot a certain way or used specific shots in a particular scene. Essentially, we will get into the director’s mind to figure out their thought process and their impulse to perform a certain action. Lastly, to create. With the content we will be discussing, watching, and analyzing for the first half of the year, members (in groups or individually) will create an original short film. If they wish to, they could submit to the 2022 Kanto Film Festival where they have a chance to showcase their cinematography skills and to earn awards. 

Silver Screen hopes to encourage members to express themselves through movement, lighting, sound, color, and more on the big screen. Let’s have an exciting and rewarding year!

WHAT IS SPARX?

S - Sound

P - Production

A - Audio

R - Recording

X - eXcellence

Sparx is not just a club, but a team of like minded individuals who work together to help produce a quality school event with audio visual, sound, lighting and stage management. Members of Sparx are continuously engaging and learning new ways, technically, to make each and every school event or production at it's best for all to enjoy.

There are basic steps of supporting live events and what a Sparx member does. This includes...

Spotlights - Are basically used to pinpoint the movement and actions of an individual on a stage setting. Usually called “followspot”, it’s a high intensity light unit mounted on a swivel base which allows the operator to follow the performers while on stage.

Sound/Video -  There are two sound units that can be used in any particular event. One is a standard wired sound which uses wired cable to assist in producing sound using wired microphones. The other standard sound unit used is a wireless microphone sound console which is a portable system and can be transported to various locations for sound.

Lighting - Lighting covers all aspects of lighting of the stage area and in the audience areas. This includes creative lighting using different intensity and color saturation of the lights. It would be the main job to interpret the event plan for lighting the event area using the complexed switches on a lighting board

Stage Management - Stage Management assists in completing a wide number and variety of responsibilities such as handling the majority of duties related to a production, assisting the faculty or students during rehearsals, and being responsible for all backstage activity once the event begins. Punctuality and flexibility is very important.

AV Recording - Video recording is required at certain times with the events. All recordings are done by a digital video camera with a standard setup. The camera can be used as a shoulder mount or with the tripod.

Being a Sparx member is not just about having the technical know-how with running events and productions, but to also have a fun and enjoyable time working together with friends.

Spill with Symbas is a fun and creative new club to embrace each of our experiences, both unique and shared. Being part of the international community, we all share certain memories and experiences. We might’ve found some of these challenging or scary, or might’ve felt alone during these times. However, we hope that we can all learn that we can bond through discussions. We hope that we can find ways to relate to each other and send a positive message to our listeners. We want to give students who believe they have something to share the opportunity to do so by joining our club, but anyone is more than welcome to join! Not all members will be required to talk on the podcast, but members of the club will either speak, edit, or manage the account.  

We plan to grow unity and spread positivity in the most ‘relatable’ and comforting way possible. Our goals as a club include: creating many podcast episodes, publishing our episodes, gain listeners in the school and hopefully outside the school too.

STAC is a math club made mainly to give opportunities to students to get help in various fields of mathematics, such as SAT math and school math. It is a place where students are able to ask questions and work with each other to develop their skills. We will also provide various resources that students can study from. In each of our meetings, we will separate the group who would like to work on SAT math, and school math. The students who prefer to do school math are able to ask any questions that they have, not only to the leaders but to other members as well. The students who wish to do SAT math will be given practice questions to do at home, then we will go over them during the meetings. We also plan to discuss the types of questions that are likely to appear on the test. Also, we are going to have trivia games once every other week during the club meetings. This trivia will be open to any of the club members who would like to join. During the year, we are also planning to host two events, a math-a-thon and a template worksheet event. In these events, we plan to raise money and donate this sum to an educational fundraiser. In the club, we would like to make sure that every club member is dedicated to getting better in math while also having fun with others to solve math problems.

TASSEL's primary goal is providing high English Education for the Cambodian students by correcting the essays the students submit and giving speaking and reading lessons by video call. We serve four other goals: creating teaching jobs for the Cambodian teachers that teach the students English during the year, providing food aid, providing medical assistance, and providing emotional support. About 50 years ago, the Khmer Rouge regime, under the dictatorship of Pol Pot, resulted in the death of 25% of Cambodia’s population within four years. Because of the Khmer Rouge, a massive community of the elderly still suffers from PTSD. Following the Khmer Rouge’s years, if a child cried, the parents would hit or ignore the child as it reminded them of their trauma suffered at the hands of the disastrous Khmer Rouge regime. The children learned not to ask for help, and most of them, until now, don't receive the love we take for granted. It is here that the high schoolers step in to show what it is to be loved. 

As a part of the club, members not only raise funds to support the organization but are directly involved in teaching English remotely to a specific group of children/Cambodian teachers in rural Cambodia. All members are committed to teaching the TASSEL students by either correcting a student’s essay or doing Vsee calls (a platform used by the TASSEL members to video call the TASSEL students to teach Phonics and English Grammar). TASSEL allows our club members to develop a relationship deeper than those charities that simply ask for donations. The club members learn the sad history of Cambodia, and this enables our members’ true hearts to serve the Cambodians. The importance of our high school students is not to donate money, but it is to serve the Cambodians and to teach them what love is. 

Last year our Sacred Heart Chapter consisted of 21 Writing Instructors (club members and Sacred Heart graduates), 10 Vsee Teachers, and 3 club members that did both. We hope that as a club not only will be able to continue recruiting new TASSEL teachers, but also retain the TASSEL teachers that graduate high school to keep the line of high-quality teaching going. 

Our long time goal for our members is to continue TASSEL outside of school. TASSEL isn’t just a school club. We will continue to do it, so we would like to encourage them to do the same. Of course, the main goal is to teach English but extends to building relations with the people. (AT THE SAME TIME CREATE RELATIONSHIP), even though the TASSEL students might be smiling in class, they have gone through a lot. So we need to do more than just teach the students, but to give love.