Following up on our series of successful recruitment events in Seattle, New York, Honolulu and the Sakura Matsuri – Washington, DC, JICUF Program Director (and ICU alumnus) Mark Flanigan once again teamed up for another opportunity with our ICU alumni in a new city. Led by Ms. Ayaka Masumoto, the dynamic Boston ICU Alumni Chapter leader, a team of volunteers came to provide excellent support for our recruitment efforts at the two-day Boston College Fair. This annual event, held in early May, attracted over 3,000 students from regional High Schools in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island in 2014. It was a wonderful opportunity to reach out to our dedicated alumni and potential students as well!

JICUF has been engaged with our Boston Alumni as they went through the process of becoming an official ICU Chapter of the Alumni Association. Our Vice-President Paul Hastings traveled up to meet with alumni and current ICU students who attended this past year’s Boston Career Forum. Many distinguished ICU alumni have also called Boston their home, including both Dr. Shigeru Miyagawa, Professor Of Linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Dr. Hirotaka Takeuchi, a Professor in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School. We had been looking for additional ways to reach out and partner with the Alumni Chapter, so the College Fair turned out to be the prime opportunity, thanks to the dynamic initiative of local members.

Chapter Head Ms. Ayaka Masumoto reached out to Mark at JICUF after hearing about our involvement with local alumni at similar College Fairs in Seattle and other cities. She offered to help organize Boston-area alumni volunteers to assist us if we ever came there for similar recruitment activities. Once JICUF decided to attend the spring NACAC College Fair in Boston, Masumoto-san very quickly and efficiently put together a great team of six volunteers, ensuring that our joint JICUF-ICU recruitment booth was fully staffed through all days/shifts of the College Fair.

Unlike similar JICUF trips to Seattle, Los Angeles or Honolulu, the High School students in Boston were not as immediately familiar with the idea of studying in Japan. Most had never really considered it in general, and were not aware of ICU in particular, but became very much interested once they engaged with our very interactive alumni volunteers. It was really gratifying for our alumni to offer their experienced perspectives to such a large group of potential ICU students, recalling many nice memories and reflecting on their own special time spent on ICU’s verdant campus in Mitaka.

In closing, this new partnership added yet another successful example of JICUF-ICU Alumni partnership in our increasingly coordinated recruitment activities. This builds on a growing trend that pools our resources and helps connect former ICU students to future ones in a supportive, convivial environment. Very special thanks to our super-genki Boston Alumni Chapter volunteers Isaku Kageyama, Kumiko Ide, Ayaka Masumoto, Manami Suzuki and Satomi Matsumura Bol. We had a great time partnering with our new friends in Boston and will definitely be back next year! In the meantime, look for us at College Fairs in Chicago, Seattle and Honolulu this coming autumn 2014 season.

For additional photos, please check our Facebook album here.