Just the other day, a student from the first class I taught after arriving in Kanazawa tweeted at me, “Professor, long time no see!” That student is now a senior. Back then, he was a freshman. Time flies so fast. Has it really been four years since I came here?

As I have mentioned before on Twitter and Facebook, unless I receive requests from other departments or requests for concurrent positions, I am a faculty member who can only teach liberal arts courses. Unless they take multiple classes of mine, that is the end of it. It makes me very happy when a student who took my liberal arts course in their freshman year reaches out to say, “Professor, long time no see.” I may not remember the specific content of the class, but as a teacher, it is a joy to see them still working hard toward self-actualization.

Today, there was a rotating power-saving schedule for the air conditioning, so I decided to go to the cafeteria for lunch during that time. Then, a senior who had been in my class tweeted, “Would you like to join me?” When I met them at the cafeteria, a sophomore involved in a regional branding circle came along, and the senior said, “I brought a junior with me too.” That senior is also running a share house; he negotiated with the landlord to rent the house and is handling everything from recruiting residents to other tasks. I think he mentioned he might try to make that his graduation thesis? The sophomore student is also actively going outside the university to participate in study groups and activities related to regional branding.

They immediately joined the “Connected Learning Community” I created on Facebook. Seeing energetic and proactive students gives me energy as well. Although the first semester classes have ended, I want to continue fostering proactive students so they can lead others, and for those who wish to change themselves and work hard with the awareness of being individuals who want to grow, I want to provide the necessary knowledge, activities, and opportunities to help them develop.