Today, I served as a judge for the TEDxAPU Speakers’ League, which was requested by an APU student group. The task was to select three outstanding speakers before the actual event, which will be held at APU’s Premium Hall at a later date. Four professors, including myself, served as judges.

More than ten students gave speeches on the beautiful stage at Green Commons (Building J). They had all practiced well and their content was well-suited to the given theme. I enjoyed listening to their speeches, which were all very impressive.

However, because everyone was so good, it took a while for the four of us to gather immediately afterwards to make our selection. I was the only Japanese faculty member; the others were a Korean-American and a Caucasian Canadian… a multinational composition that is common at APU. What was interesting was that the first two excellent presentations were selected without any disagreement. It was interesting to see that everyone agreed on who was the best.

But selecting the third winner took time. Though the organizing students urged us along, we finally reached a consensus and I breathed a sigh of relief. It took from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM, but it was a very meaningful task. Many thanks to the organizing students as well.

今日は、APUの学生団体からお願いされていた「TEDｘAPU Speakers’ League」の審査員を務めました。後日にAPUのプレミアムホールを利用して行われる本番の前に、優れたスピーカーを3名選ぶというタスクです。私を含めて4名の教授陣が審査員となりました。

10人強の生徒が、グリーンコモンズ（J棟）の綺麗な舞台でスピーチをするのですが、内容も設定テーマを押さえよいもので、皆しっかりと練習していました。とても見応え/聴き応えのあるものばかりで楽しみました。

ただ、皆さん粒ぞろいだったので、直後に4名が集まっての選出に時間がかかりました。日本人教員は私1人で、他も韓国系アメリカ人、白人系カナダ人…とAPUでは当たり前の多国籍構成。面白かったのは、優秀発表の最初の2名までは全く異論なく進んだこと。やはり誰が見ても…というのは共通するのだなと面白かった。

ところが3人目の選出に時間がかかった。主催する生徒たちから急かされつつ、なんとか最終的に合意の下で選ぶことができてほっとしました。1630時から1900時と時間は取られましたが、非常に有意義なタスクでした。主催の学生さんたちにも、多謝。