Starting Sunday, March 9, ten Andrews University students will be in Osaka, Japan, to complete a social innovation project in collaboration with Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU). The class, offered as an undergraduate course by the School of Business, is called the Socially Innovative Global Classroom (SIGLOC) and aims to facilitate interactions across the globe. Students who participate in the class work complete a project that benefits a local community in the Osaka prefecture.
Aaron Moushon, assistant dean for undergraduate education at Andrews, is excited to bring another group of students with him to Japan.
“The Socially Innovative Global Classroom is one of AU’s most important and exciting international programs,” he said. “We’ve partnered with OMU since 2018 to bring AU students to Japan and OMU students to the US. This is our fifth trip to OMU, and we are very excited to begin another project.”
This year, the students are working hard to provide eco-friendly aprons to volunteers at a social welfare council in Hannan City. The social welfare council works with kids of all ages and provides food for them. The project was purposely designed to be both socially and environmentally beneficial to the local community in Hannan City, and the sustainable nature of the aprons utilizes a local business model. The aprons are made out of “mokuito,” a type of thread made by a company called Washi no Nuno located in Hannan City, which crushes thinning wood, processes it into raw paper for washi paper and spins it into thread.
None of the students in the class have been to Japan before this trip. All of them expressed lots of excitement, especially Taznir Smalling (senior, international business), who hopes to learn as much as she can about the culture and interact with OMU students.
Brooke Scott (senior, management) said, “I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to travel to Japan, not just as a team, but as a community guided by incredible faculty. This journey is about more than just exploration. It’s about building meaningful connections with students from Japan, sharing perspectives, and learning from one another in ways that will shape us for years to come. I look forward to every moment of growth, discovery and the friendships that will bridge cultures and create lasting impact.”
Mikhael Tillman (senior, information systems) noted how he’s looking forward to finally work with OMU students in-person after meeting with them on Zoom for the first half of the semester.
“Having a new perspective, firsthand, on how things are done in a different environment will tie in well with Andrews’ motto, ‘Seek knowledge, affirm faith, change the world,’” Tillman said. “And I can’t wait for the food!”
Kato Golooba-Mutebi (junior, finance) said, “This is a great opportunity made possible by Dr. Muhlenbeck and Mr. Moushon. We are standing on the shoulders of giants—being students who have worked on this for the past few years—and I’m honored to be a part of the group that will implement it. これは良いだろう! (This will be great!)”
As the weekend draws near, please keep the SIGLOC students and staff in your prayers. If you would like to donate to the project, click here.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.