Exemplary Leadership Recognized: Six Students Honored with the 2023 Tokyo Tech Award for Student Leadership
Six students have received the 2023 Tokyo Tech Award for Student Leadership. Awarded annually since 2002 to students in the second, third, or fourth year of their bachelor’s program, the award aims to encourage highly motivated students with extraordinary intellect, humanity, creativity, and energy to continue with their studies and work towards becoming global leaders.
Five of six 2023 Tokyo Tech Award for Student Leadership winners (from left): Kim, Fujisaki, Otomo, Hasegawa, Ogawa
2023 Tokyo Tech Award for Student Leadership winner Hayakawa
At the awards ceremony held at Hisao & Hiroko Taki Plaza (Taki Plaza) on October 26, five of the students received a certificate and prize for their efforts from President Kazuya Masu, and then discussed their achievements and future plans with the head of the Institute. One of the students was unable to join the ceremony as he was in California at the time.
This year’s award recipients, all of whom overcame demanding hurdles in their academic and extracurricular activities, were lauded particularly for their creativity and leadership as they pursued their passions during the COVID-19 pandemic, or restarted their activities soon after various restrictions were lifted.
2023 Tokyo Tech Award for Student Leadership recipients and award-winning activities
Kosuke Ogawa
4th year, Mechanical Engineering
- As vice-representative and representative of Tokyo Tech’s Peer Support, a service for students by students, demonstrated strong leadership by establishing the direction of these activities, providing direct support to fellow students while guiding other peer supporters, and taking the lead in addressing the sharply increased number of consultations.
- Actively shared information on peer support activities at symposiums and other events both within and outside Tokyo Tech, contributing to the enhanced reputation of the Institute.
I am honored to receive such a prestigious award. In the beginning, I doubted whether I could serve as the representative of this group, but after a year of activities, I gained confidence in my role as a peer supporter representative. I am sure there were many areas where I could have been more reliable, but with the help of the other peer supporters and faculty, I was able to carry out my role. I thank you all. I would like to use the experiences I have accumulated in both future peer support activities and my research activities at Tokyo Tech.
Namkyong Kim
3rd year, Materials Science and Engineering
- As head of the Korean Students Association at Tokyo Tech (KSA), member of the International Exchange Team among Tokyo Tech’s peer life coaches, and head of the Community group within Taki Plaza Gardener, an official student club in charge of managing the flagship student exchange hub on Ookayama Campus, planned and implemented various exchange events and support meetings, helped create new organizations and student communities, promoted international exchange, and contributed to international student support and industry-academia collaboration through her leadership.
- Launched a new volunteer group that offers academic support to children.
Thank you very much for the Tokyo Tech Student Leadership Award. I remember feeling anxious about the unfamiliar environment when I first arrived in Japan, but after joining and working in various student organizations, I have learned to apply my differences as a tool to work with others. I have met and worked with students of various nationalities in the peer life coaches’ International Exchange Team, with Japanese students in the Taki Plaza Gardener student group, and with business people through KSA. I have understood the importance of respecting diversity, and have gained valuable experiences accomplishing many things with different people. While keeping these achievements in mind, I would like to continue towards various goals regardless of language and culture.