This time we interviewed Yuna, a fourth-year university student who has been involved as an intern since the launch of NIJIN High School. She is herself a graduate of a correspondence high school. Why did she choose the education sector, and NIJIN?
Day after day she runs into the wall of having “no marketing experience”, and keeps taking on web production and advertising, reporting directly to the CEO. Behind it is a pure and passionate wish to bring “a new option” to children who are struggling as she once did.
Profile
- I once chose a correspondence school myself. That is why I can believe in the value of “new education” more than anyone
- The moment I knew for certain that my work had become the trigger that changes someone’s whole life
I once chose a correspondence school myself. That is why I can believe in the value of “new education” more than anyone
— What kind of work do you do now?
I mainly handle marketing for NIJIN High School. In practice it is mostly digital: building and managing the website, posting on social media, running advertising and so on.
But it isn’t just about chasing numbers. I am always asking myself, “How can we get this across to people who don’t know Niji-ko yet?” Every day is trial and error, so that we can offer a new option to as many students who are not attending school, and as many correspondence high school students, as possible. I sometimes also take the photos at events, putting my photography hobby to use. By capturing the atmosphere in a picture, I want to convey “what’s good about Niji-ko” in a way words alone can’t. To do that, I have been working hard lately at studying composition and design too!
— What made you want to work at NIJIN?
Above all, it was how deeply I identified with the philosophy that “people are born to be happy and live to make others happy”. I am a graduate of a correspondence high school myself.
Back then, choosing a correspondence school was still often seen negatively. At an interview for a part-time job I was asked, “Why didn’t you go to a normal high school?”, and that has stayed with me to this day. But spending time with friends in the same situation, I came to feel strongly that “a correspondence school ought to be able to be a place where you can shine more as yourself”. My own wish, “I want to create a world where students at correspondence schools can hold their heads high and show who they are. I want to show society that stage”, matched exactly the education NIJIN is aiming for. I was drawn to its approach to social problems: “don’t blame people, build systems”. I was sure that here I could take on real, fundamental reform of education.
The moment I knew for certain that my work had become the trigger that changes someone’s whole life
— Is there an episode from your time at NIJIN that stands out most?
It was when I heard, from the colleague who had just finished a one-to-one consultation session for Niji-ko (NIJIN High School), what the parents and the student had said. I had been working flat out on the website, under tough but caring guidance from Tatsuro, our CEO, on how to get people to take that first step.
So when we received the words “Niji-ko appealed to us” and “We decided to enrol because we felt this is somewhere it could work”, I was overcome. It was the moment I knew for certain that my work had become the trigger that changes someone’s whole life. That one family’s decision gave me a strong push forward. It is what drives me to work with even greater resolve. And at the same time it fired me up: we have to get the stage ready for many more struggling children across the country to shine.
— What is hard about the work, and where do you find it rewarding?
The hardest part is putting our passion “into a form that reaches the people it needs to reach”. I started with zero knowledge of marketing. With no right answer, the question is “How do we get our message to the customers we want to make happy?”, and I still struggle with the process of forming hypotheses and testing them again and again. With passionate guidance from Tatsuro, our CEO, I spend every day thinking things through as thoroughly as I can.
But the reward is immeasurable to match. When the website or the adverts I made actually connect us with a family considering enrolment, I am really happy. Students struggling all over the country find a new path called Niji-ko and take a step forward with hope. Being there for that moment is a joy nothing else could replace. I can feel my own lived experience turning, through this work, into someone else’s courage.
Turning correspondence education into “a positive choice”
— What do you want to take on at NIJIN from here?
I want to get rid of the label “correspondence school = running away”. I want to keep telling the world about “the things you can do precisely because it is a correspondence school, precisely because it is Niji-ko”. I want to make visible the moments when students connect with society. I am going to take on creating a culture in which a correspondence school is recognised as a positive path!
I also want to keep sharpening my skills on the back-office side. I want to go on making sure the students we want to make happy find out that Niji-ko exists. Drawing on my own experience, I want to build an environment from which students can step out into society feeling secure.
— Finally, a message for students who are thinking about an internship!
Not attending school, or choosing a correspondence school, is never running away. It is a “positive decision” to live as yourself. I am one of the people who has walked that road. What I want to say is: “Whatever your environment, you can make yourself shine.”
At NIJIN there are wonderful colleagues, and an environment, that won’t reject your “colour” but will take delight in it with you. That is true for students and for staff alike. If you are thinking that you would like to create a new form of education, NIJIN will be the best possible stage. Come and build the most exciting school there is, together with us!
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