In early September Hakuba was home to around 200 Year 7–13 students from the British School in Tokyo (BST) on their annual autumn trip. BST have been visiting Hakuba on their autumn and winter programs for over five years.
The autumn program changes depending on the students’ ages, with the Year 7s and 8s staying in hotels and enjoying a range of activities including canyoning, climbing, mountain biking, and canoeing as well as a movie night and talent show. The Year 9s camp at the edge of beautiful Lake Aokiko and experience mountain biking, campfires, kayaking, and a high-ropes course while spending their downtime playing with friends, helping to prepare meals, or simply relaxing by and swimming in the pure waters of this spring-fed lake.
Aokiko is extremely popular with campers, but at this time of year BST gets the place to themselves so everyone can really get away from city life. As well as enjoying the warm water, beautiful views, and exciting activities, the students get to lie back and absorb the beautiful night skies. One student was overheard to exclaim, “Wow, I’ve never seen a star in Japan!”
During Years 10 and 11 at BST, students work on the Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh awards, which involve planning and preparing for overnight and multi-day trekking expeditions.
There is also a “Silver Service” option, where the Evergreen team trains the students to work as assistant guides on activities. All of them worked extremely hard to do a good job and were great role models for their juniors.
After all the hard work during Years 10 and 11, there’s a more leisurely pace for the Year 12 and 13 students, who stay at a hotel and experience the range of activities Hakuba has to offer, including canyoning, rafting, and exploring the area.
The Evergreen coordinator got to visit all the different groups and saw nothing but smiling faces and students enjoying themselves (well, maybe a few tears on the high-ropes course — and not just from students!). There were plenty of opportunities to catch up with people who had visited Evergreen before during summer camps or on previous BST trips, as well as talking to teachers who, along with keeping a watch on their students and running lessons a few times over the week, also got to join in on the activities and breathe in the fresh Hakuba mountain air.
The Evergreen team, having run these school trips for many years now, truly believe it is not only a challenging and rewarding experience for students but also provides a bonding experience for students and teachers, creating relationships that cannot be fostered within the classroom. They look forward to working with BST on future camps, as well as the upcoming camps with Tokyo International School and Yokohama International School. They also look forward to developing the same kind of multi-grade programs with other schools inside as well as outside of Japan. — JADE BARHAM
