It is with great joy that we celebrate the entrance ceremony of Amicus Junior High School here today. To all the new students, congratulations on your admission. And to the parents and guardians, heartfelt congratulations on your child’s enrollment.

Having completed your years in elementary school, you now take your first steps as junior high school students. Over the six years of elementary school, your bodies have grown significantly. Perhaps you’ve looked in the mirror and thought, “Wow, I’ve grown so much.”

In junior high school, in addition to physical growth, it is your emotional growth that will become even more prominent. Emotional growth means not only thinking about yourself, but also being able to feel the sorrow and joy of others—your friends, your family—as if they were your own.

To grow emotionally, you will also face times of worry, difficulty, and inner struggle. Things won’t always go the way you expect. You may experience misunderstandings with others. But it is precisely through such experiences that your hearts will expand, becoming stronger and more compassionate.

At our school, one of the opportunities to nurture such growth will come at the end of June, when all junior high students will participate in the musical The Story of Yoshinobu Agena as part of our PBL (Project-Based Learning) activities. This musical is based on a true story. After the devastation of the Battle of Okinawa, where many lives were lost—including not only people, but also pigs, whose numbers had dropped to just 2,000—seven young men of Okinawan descent living in Hawaii delivered 550 live pigs to help the starving people of Okinawa.

They chose to send live pigs, rather than pork or other goods, because they believed that live pigs would reproduce, increasing in number and providing long-term sustenance for the people of Okinawa.

All students will be involved in this musical in some way—acting, singing, creating props, handling lighting and sound, and more. As you fulfill your individual roles, you will learn to collaborate with others, face challenges, and work together to create something meaningful.

Through this process, you will come to understand the realities of postwar Okinawa and the thoughts and hopes of the people who lived through that time. Just as the young men who crossed the rough Pacific Ocean matured through their journey, you too will feel yourselves growing—deeply and meaningfully.

To the parents and guardians: while the physical growth of your children is easy to see, emotional growth is often invisible. That is why it is so important that we—both at school and at home—watch over our students closely and carefully, supporting them as they grow not only in body, but in heart and spirit.

To our new students: I am truly excited to see how you will grow in the days ahead. Believe in yourself. Believe in your friends. Do not fear new challenges. Walk forward, one step at a time.

Once again, congratulations on your admission.

Ken Oshiro, Principal of AMICUS JH School, April 9, 2025