The ILC Club consists of four Iwate middle school students who gather to think about what science can do for Iwate’s future. At a public seminar on the ILC held in Morioka on September 27th (held by the Iwate ILC Promotion Council), the students made a presentation about their visit to Geneva and CERN and what they learned there. The four had learned more about the world’s most advanced particle physics, and what would be needed for researchers to live a comfortable life in Japan. They cut strong figures presenting the world of elementary particle physics.

This is the ILC Club’s first public presentation since then their visit to Switzerland from July 30 – August 4. Sakura Sugawara (3rd year student at Daito MS, Ichinoseki City) said, “I learned that we need the efforts of many different countries and people to create a large-scale particle collider.” Yu Osakashita (3rd year at Higashi Mizusawa MS, Oshu City) said, “These important international achievements are accomplished because of the slow, steady process of observing data.”

The four observed life and culture in Geneva as well as CERN. Wakana Hiramatsu (2nd year at Kamaishi MS, Kamaishi City) said, “I learned about foreign culture and how fun that can be. I hope I can develop a more international perspective.” Manato Sato (2nd year at Tsuchibuchi MS, Morioka City) said, “I had thought that the ILC might be dangerous, but I was relieved to see how CERN has its own fire station and hospital. It’s a safe place to be.”

The ILC will be a humongous linear particle collider that will aim to uncover answers to the mysteries of the universe’s origins. Its candidate site is the Kitakami mountains of Iwate, and all involved stake holders are hoping that it will become the largest hub of international research in the world.

The ILC Club is part of Iwate Nippo’s Japan ILC 2030 project (supported by Bank of Iwate, Kita-Nippon Bank, Tohoku Bank, and Tohoku Electric Power Co.). The project started in 2016; this is its second year.