for the test and camp, 4 test writers, 15 or so judges, 30 camp volunteers, 5-6 junior leaders (returning high school students), and approximately 100 students participants (50 of which attend camp) from over 40 schools and their ALT coaches. As just one single representative of the HEC family, I give my testimonial on how HEC has positively impacted my tiny corner of Japan to hopefully get other JETs interested in creating a similar competition in their own area!
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I have seen the impact of HEC in my community in wonderful and interesting ways. For example, for three years in a row HEC participants had gone on to become the student council President of Samani Junior High School, broken only recently by 2012 HEC champion Shuntaro who became the Chief Secretary (arguably the real brains of the council). Speaking about HEC, Shuntaro says that working in a group at camp taught him how to communicate with others and listen to their opinions, while still cherishing his own. I think this is a very tangible example of how HEC increases students’ confidence and communication skills, not only in English, but for other facets of their life as well. Samani High School student Aoi, whose younger sister Mei attended camp this year, adds that because of her HEC experience three years ago, she is never shy to introduce herself to people, including people from other countries, and therefore makes friends easily and adapts quickly to new situations. My one piece of advice to other JETs that might want to do something
similar to HEC is to always have a back-up plan if something unexpected happens such as, say, a bear appears at your campground the day before camp (true story!). But since that is perhaps a problem unique to Hokkaido, maybe a better example is this: every year HEC creates two complete test documents, just in case someone accidentally opens the envelope containing the test before they and their student are on camera (which is forbidden by the test rules). You don’t really think about these things until they happen, so I’d like to advise others to expect a lot of bumps and to do their best to draw up contingency plans from the outset, so you don’t have to go through two decades of trial and error like us!