Staff profile of the Student Participation and Job program
Student staff at the Olympic and Paralympic Project Promotion Office, Office of the President
Rie Shimizu, junior, School of Political Science and Economics
The students who study and work on campus play an important role in the university. Here, we introduce the profiles of students to highlight what kind of students are involved in the Student Participation and Job program, and what their schedules are like. In this article, we will introduce Rie Shimizu, who is a student in the School of Political Science and Economics, and works as a student staff member at the Olympic and Paralympic Project Promotion Office (abbreviated to Olympic/Paralympic PJ Office below) of the Office of the President. We will talk to her about her role in public relations efforts, and her efforts to publicize the activities of athletes affiliated with Waseda.
Q.When did you first get involved in the Student Participation and Job program?
I started in February 2020.
Q.What got you started?
To tell you the truth, when the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games was recruiting volunteers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games (from September to December 2018), I didn’t have much interest in the Tokyo 2020 Games. However, since it’s very rare for Tokyo to have the opportunity to host the Olympics, I gradually began to think that I wanted to be involved in some shape or form. As I was thinking this, around December 2019, I found out that I had a chance to be involved in the Tokyo 2020 Games through the university’s Student Participation and Job program, so I applied.
Q.What kind of activities are you involved in?
I’m mainly involved in public relations efforts and accounting tasks. In our public relations efforts, we first survey alumni (graduates) and current students of Waseda University to find out what kind of athletes there are and what activities they’ve been involved in, and then we create a database of the results. Based on the database, we research trends in the schedule of games in each category, and if an athlete appears in one of the games, we announce it through social media (Twitter and Facebook). I also help edit and update the Olympic/Paralympic PJ Office Website, and create monthly email newsletters. As for the accounting tasks, we prepare forms for the invoices sent to the Olympic/Paralympic PJ Office and submit them to the campus collection officer.
Since April, with the spread of the coronavirus, all university students have been working from home, so now I’m mainly in charge of public relations efforts.
On the left: Going through PR material to prepare information to post on social media
On the right: Checking for errors after preparing accounting documents
Q.Tell us what you’ve felt since you’ve joined the Student Participation and Job program.
First of all, when I was researching athletes affiliated with Waseda University, I was surprised to learn that there are many more active athletes than I had expected.
Also, I didn’t have any experience with desk work since most of my work experience has been part-time work in restaurants and customer service. However, since I joined the Student Participation and Job program, I learned how to write business emails and the proper way to make phone calls, among other skills that will be useful in the future. Also, through the accounting tasks, I learned about the fine details and the strict accounting of money transactions in an organization, as well as learned about some of the aspects of operating a university. If I had never joined the Student Job program, I never would have had the opportunity to learn extensively about the work of the office workers who support all of the students and their activities at the university, so I consider this to be a very valuable experience.
Meeting in the Olympic/Paralympic PJ Office (Shimizu-san is on the right, toward the front)
Q.How do you manage to balance multiple tasks, like your studies, the Student Participation and Job program, and club activities?
During spring break this year, I adjusted my workdays to fit my schedule and worked from home during the spring semester. Most of the classes I took in the spring semester were on-demand courses, and I was able to attend lectures at any time, so I was working from home in the morning and going to class in the afternoon. The spring semester was very different from my previous student life, with restrictions on club activities and leisure activities like eating out with friends, but this made it easier for me to balance my school work and the Student Participation and Job program.
Q．Do you have any suggestions for improving the Student Participation and Job program that you’d like the university to hear?
I think that the Student Participation and Job program is a great system that allows students to be involved in the operational side of the university. However, I found that not many of my friends knew about this system, so I think they should publicize it more.
Q.Tell us about your future aspirations, and what challenges you’d like to take on.
With the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Games, it’s hard to predict what will happen next, but through my public relations work, I’d like to make an effort to get as many students as possible interested in the sporting events in which alumni and current students of Waseda University are participating. And when the Tokyo 2020 Games are successfully held next year, I’d like to do my best to get people excited about the Olympic and Paralympic Games from Waseda University.
Weekly schedule during a school term
