Garden Party and Graduation Commemorative Gifts
Image: Garden Party (2000)
March is the season for graduation. This fiscal year (FY2017), the undergraduate graduation ceremony will be held at the Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall instead of the usual Hiyoshi Commemorative Hall due to reconstruction work. In the past, after the graduation ceremony, a student organization called the Graduation Preparation Committee, formed by undergraduate volunteers, would hold a Garden Party to celebrate graduation together. Many ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ alumni likely remember this.
The reason I wrote "in the past" is that the committee has not been established since FY2008, and the Garden Party has not been held since then. This is because the scale of the event grew beyond what ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ students could manage themselves compared to when it first started, leading to issues such as trouble with vendors. The Garden Party could be called the star activity of the Graduation Preparation Committee, a large-scale project widely known among graduates with approximately 3,000 attendees.
For many years, it was a tradition for ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ graduates to spend the entire day attending the graduation ceremony and then dressing up in party attire to participate in the Garden Party. While the content varied slightly each year, it was held as a graduation celebration featuring talent performances, raffles for luxury prizes, video screenings by the Graduation Album Planning Committee tracing the journey of that year's graduates from admission to graduation, and a final group sing-along of the "ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ Sanka" with everyone's arms around each other's shoulders.
Additionally, the Graduation Preparation Committee presented graduation commemorative gifts to various locations on campus every year, functioning as an important link to permanently connect graduates with the Juku. For example, in FY2004 and FY2005, based on the consideration of providing a place for junior ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ students to relax on campus, stone tables and chairs were donated in front of the First School Building on the Mita Campus, and they are still highly valued today. Looking further back in history, items reflecting the era were selected, such as campus maps and event information boards in the 1980s, and clock towers, wisteria trellises, and message boards in the 90s.
Regarding these activities of the Graduation Preparation Committee, the valuable experience of managing the Garden Party¡ªworking with peers for a year to lead the gathering of classmates to success¡ªserved as a vital foundation for cultivating leadership. This leadership eventually produces solid results in activities such as the Executive Committee for the Rengo Mita-kai General Meetings (held once every ten years after graduation) and fundraising projects organized by the Anniversary Mita-kai for the 25th and 50th years after graduation. While the Garden Party was a high-profile project, the steady work of carefully selecting commemorative gifts that would remain as long-lasting memories served as a strong bond connecting the Juku and ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ alumni.
It is fair to say that the activities of the Graduation Preparation Committee were highly significant activities unique to ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ students, embodying the spirit of independence and self-respect.
(Takamasa Kawada, Manager, Hiyoshi Campus Office)
*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.