Summer Camp of Empowerment Lab on 26-27th August

Hello, everyone! I am Zhao Ruifeng, a second-year Ph.D. student in our Empowerment Science Lab. I'm excited to tell you about the Empowerment Summer Camp in 2023.

We implemented a long-awaited hybrid strategy for the summer program this year. We were delighted to meet Ota sensei, who had traveled all the way from Okayama to Tsukuba to take part in the camp with us. There were also many other guests who were not able to come to the site, but participated in the camp online and had a great time with us.



The Empowerment Action Meeting and the Smile Action Meeting were held on the 26th in that sequence starting at 1:00 p.m. after we had officially welcomed Ota sensei to the Lab. At the beginning of the meeting, Anme sensei greeted everyone, the students introduced themselves, and the teachers and seniors who had joined online provided their recent reports after that. In the lecture part of the meeting, the speakers displayed their professionalism by presenting wonderfully about the topics that had been well prepared. We were impressed by the content of their presentations, and at the same time, we gained a great deal of cutting-edge knowledge from various fields, especially particularly those relating to childcare, and benefited a lot. After the meeting, which continued until 5:00 p.m., everyone who was offline, including the guest of Ota sensei, proceeded to a Chinese restaurant for the evening's dinner. Everyone had a great time playing games, drinking, and talking over the dinner, and it was a very enjoyable and satisfying way to close the first day of camp.



We traveled to the Tsukuba Space Center of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Tsukuba City early on August 27, the second day of the camp. During the tour, we followed Anme sensei and paid attention to her explanations. As a result, we learnt a great deal of information that we wouldn't often have access to, which widened our knowledge and deepened our insights. We enjoyed ourselves at the German beer restaurant around midday.



We got to know one another better via this camp, and Ota sensei kindly invited us to come to Okayama, where she lives, for next year's Empowerment Summer Camp. We are looking forward to next year's summer camp!