Statement of Kohtaro Kosugiyama (Japan / PCYR41 (class of 2016))

at the VIP Reception of One World Expo 2017

McPherson Playhouse, Victoria BC - March 18th, 2017

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Id like to welcome all of you to this amazing One World Expo, and
especially for those who are here for the rst time, Id love to welcome you to Pearson family. I am Kohtaro Kosugiyama,
a year 41 student from Japan, currently studying at New York University. Id like to thank Desiree for the warm
introduction and giving me this great opportunity to share my love to One World and Pearson College. It is my pleasure
to be back home today and to share this excitement of the magic created by students from all over the world. While
celebrating the 120th anniversary of our father, Lester B. Pearson, this year, it is my honor to share that I was born exactly
100 years later than his birthday. This can explain my endless love and passion for Pearson and UWC missions as well as
One World production, which truly represents Pearson College. Indeed, you can nd myself in a Ukrainian costume on
the cover of the program of One World 2017.

My days at Pearson have dynamically shaped my identity. After spending two years with friends from over 80
nations, I learned the reality of this planet that I could not learn in Japan. More importantly, through understanding and
appreciating the diversity we share at Pearson, I learned how magnicent the world could be, and thanks to the
experiences, I can call everyone I met here as my family.

Since I moved to New York City last summer, Ive been exposed to the real world, where we face a lot of
challenges which prevent the world from being in the best state. On November 8th, 2016, I was at the Javits Center,
where Hillary Clintons victory party to celebrate the diversity as the strength of community was supposed to be held.
However, what I witnessed there was not what I expected. I saw a lot of people crying, fearing, and feeling pain because
of the nation's decision to take diversity as the challenge and risk of the community over the strength of it. Since that
day, the atmosphere of New York City and, the States, and the world seem to have changed, and as the one who knows
how nice the world can be, Ive been feeling disappointed. However at the same time, I also feel grateful by the fact that
I know the diversitys potential to achieve peace.

For the last few decades, we have been living with globalization, and its inuences have been aecting our life.
One of the most prominent examples is the mobilization of people; thanks to the advancement of technology, we can
basically go anywhere on this planet. This seems great, but at the same time, it also means that individually strongly
united communities are now facing a way bigger number of other communities. This has been causing frictions among
the communities, and I believe that it is how most of the recent global agendas are complicated and made hard to be
resolved. It takes us a great eort to achieve one united world.

Winston Churchill has left us an important lesson; when solving issues, there should be reactive solutions rst
followed by appropriate proactive solutions to tackle them completely. For example, when you are bleeding, you have
to at rst deal with whats happening right in front of you such as covering the wound. This is the example of reactive
solutions. However, afterwards, you should also think about why it happened and how you can prevent it from
happening again, and this represents the proactive solutions since it aims to get rid of the root causes.

Outside of the NYU classrooms, Ive been exposing myself to the latest global eorts to resolve global agendas in
order to contribute to a more peaceful future, through the internship at the United Nations. It has been a great inspiring
experience, but I have to admit that even the UN lacks with the proactive solutions. There are uncountable issues to be
solved, and the UN has to keep reacting to them. This takes a lot of time away from them to consider the proactive
solutions which are essential to tackle root causes. This world needs proactive solutions to combat the challenges, but it
lacks with them greatly because of the diculty and the shortage of time to identify the root causes.
 However, there is a hope. It is education, and yes, we, Pearson College as well as other 16 United World Colleges
are the hope. As our father Lester B. Pearson has asked once; How can there be peace without people understanding
each other, and how can this be if they dont know each other? we are spreading the seeds of peace for the future, and
as the one who has spent two years here, I can prove that it is right. When I hear news of something happening at
somewhere in this world, there are always faces of my Pearson family from the places in my mind. Global issues are not
just global issues anymore; they are about my best friends, they are about my Pearson family, and therefore global
issues are my personal issues to be resolved.

Pearson can never stop because it is one of the few proactive solutions in todays world. This is why Id love to
appreciate all of you who are supporting Pearson to make the magic of peace possible. Id like to tell you that you are
changing the world, and that is why I feel responsible to keep the mission and achieve our goal together with all of you.
I feel responsible because of all of the passion and eort you have put together for the brighter future.

As we all gather today, lets celebrate the missions of Pearson and UWC as well as the success of One World Expo
2017, and lets also join our hands together for the peace and a sustainable future. Thank you very much for reassuring
me that peace is possible with you. Let's make this happen.

Thank you.
Prole of Kohtaro Kosugiyama (Japan / PCYR41 (class of 2016))

Kohtaro is a freshman at NYU studying Global Liberal Studies Program; hes been
involved in Liberal Studies Students Task Force and Working Group for Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion as well as Diversity Advisory Board at NYU Wasserman Center for Career
Development. He also works a volunteer teacher at Dance to Unite, an organization aiming
to teach beauty of multicultural communities to elementary students through dances from
all over the world. In addition to these, while interning at the Permanent Mission of Japan
to the United Nations, hes founded hmble, a social venture to resolve refugee crisis by
providing solar-rechargeable power banks, and KUHIO, a fashion brand providing
"Wearable Advocacy" in order to achieve "Unity in Diversity.

The answer for all our national problems - the answer for all the problems of the world - come to a single word.
That word is education.

- Lyndon B. Johnson