Kouhai Support System

Our group comprises of diligent, proactive and well-known students who have made a name for themselves within the premises of APU. However, for many of us, the process was not easy, as freshers, many of us struggled to adjust to our new lives or simply did not know enough reliable seniors to help us around. We received a lot of support from APU and Flag, however, after classes started, a lot of us struggled to balance so many things like: studies, ECAs, social life, clubs, paperwork, daily life altogether at once. Some of us were even too introverted or drowned with work to not even be able to reach out for help despite so much support being available around us. This is specially prevalent among students from countries that do not have a big community of alumni/senpais in APU often feel homesick and struggle to find their way around adjusting in APU. For this, many students, specially international students dropout within the first year, or end up affecting their academic performance and often risk or lose their scholarships. Despite not stating the official numbers, our core team has noticed a lot of our batchmates, seniors and kouhais give up on APU simply because they had a difficult time adjusting. Numerous factors come in as to why some people choose to not continue, but we believe most of these reasons can be mitigated with the right support and guidance. The Club's Purpose is to initiate a long-term cycle of Senpais helping Kouhai through a range of weekly sessions taking place within the premise of APU. Every week, a new cycle of Senpais will be chosen based on a selective/voluntary approach and they will briefly introduce who they are, their achievements so far and what they specialize in. Kouhais are free to enter the weekly activities through a simple survey/walk-in sessions and ask for help regarding any problem they may have related to APU/Adjusting to Japan. After ice-breaking and introductory session, there will be specific groups divided diversely related to specific problems faced by the Kouhais and a Senpai will be assigned to help each respective group with problems they are facing. For Japanese only support, we will always have Japanese Senpai on-board with proficient English skills. The recruitment setting of this organization is going to revolve around a circular basis. Once a student becomes a 2nd Year student, they will be able to participate in the organization as a Senpai, while the intake of Freshman will keep adding up every semester. Due to APU's constant intake of International/Domestic Students, our organization will never have a shortage of Freshman Participants looking for advice or extra guidance related to their problems. Any Kouhai who were assisted by our activities in their freshman days, can always apply to become a Senpai after they become a 2nd year student. Senpais will be considered as Club members, but will not hold long-term commitments and can voluntarily apply to be a senpai each week. Core members will be in-charge on a long-term basis for most operations and will constantly look out for assisting the organization with any tasks that are due with the APU authorities and handling the logistics for the club.