Spring as a First-Year, Spring as a Second-Year | Naoyuki Agawa (Dean, Faculty of Policy Management)
2008.05.01
Spring has come, the cherry blossoms have bloomed, and new first-year students have arrived at SFC. It all began with guidance on April 1, followed by a kick-off lecture by Heizo Takenaka on the 2nd, and the entrance ceremony on the 3rd. Guidance continued on the 4th, 5th, and 7th, with classes starting on the 8th. Attending guidance sessions every day, listening to a succession of unfamiliar faces, you new students must have been incredibly busy. But to carry out all these events, the faculty and administrative staff in charge worked very hard and prepared meticulously. I thank them for their efforts.
The campus, which was quiet during the spring break, has become completely bustling with the arrival of the new students. No, "bustling" is too mild a word. The buses are packed. It was especially miserable in the mornings at Shonandai when it rained for about three days straight starting from the 8th, when classes began. It was cold and wet, the lines were long, and it was hard to get on a bus. When I gave up on the bus and tried to take a taxi, there was a long line for that too. As the days go by, students' patterns of movement become established and this level of chaos subsides, but it's tough until the new students get used to it. Let's head to campus with time to spare, while dreaming of a day when a train line runs all the way here.
Amidst all this, on April 1, I stood on the stage to give an address as the Dean of the Faculty of Policy Management and faced nearly all of the new students for the first time. As I looked out at everyone's faces, I thought, "Ah, you all made it to SFC, to the Faculty of Policy Management." After all, you, who until now had only been numbers—"total applicants XX, total successful candidates YY, number of enrolled students ZZ"—were sitting there as 425 young people in the flesh.
Young as you are, all 425 new students of the Faculty of Policy Management have followed various paths and made decisions to come to SFC. I, who am not young at all, have also come to serve as dean through a variety of circumstances. If even one of you had gone to a different school, or if I had chosen a different career instead of becoming a faculty member, we would not be here together in this classroom—you with each other, and you with me—in the spring of 2008. That alone feels like a miracle. It makes the crowded bus ride worth it.
Since that day, I often meet with the new first-year students. For new students in our faculty, the course "Creation of the Faculty of Policy Management" is mandatory, so they have to see my face, whether they like it or not, during the first period every Tuesday. In a large classroom, however, it's difficult to speak with each student one-on-one. For the first-year students of the faculty, there is only one dean, but for me, there are 425 new students in the faculty.
Even so, first-year students will call out to me or greet me on campus and on the bus. Once, when I was looking for a place to sit in the cafeteria with a plate of spaghetti, a group of first-year students let me join them, saying, "Whoa, the dean is eating in a place like this?" During a "Creation" class, while the lecturer was speaking, I went up to the back of the θ (Theta) Building: Main Lecture Hall 2. There, a male student in the last row, unaware that I was behind him, was warning his friend, "Hey, Agawa is walking around!" I tapped him on the shoulder and chided him, "What's this 'Agawa'? Don't just use my last name. Go sit at the front." He was terribly apologetic and went to sit in a seat further forward. You're surprisingly obedient, you know. There are those who have sent me their thoughts on the class by email, one who shouted at me, "I want to get on a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer," and another who came all the way to the dean's office to ask questions. And the first-year students I sang with at KOE practice. It's great to see everyone so full of life.
By the way, the SAs (Student Assistants) for the "Creation" course are students who took the same class last year, led by a student I'll call T, who was a first-year three years ago. They came to me last spring to share their thoughts and requests about the class. That's how I got to know them. They have grown strong over the year and are now second-year students.
Every spring, students unleash the energy they've stored up over the winter, blossoming in various ways. Seeing the new second-year students who have completely blended into campus life, it occurred to me that I, too, have been promoted to a "second-year dean" this spring.
(Posted: 2008/05/01)