KESENNUMA, Miyagi Prefecture--Students at Kesennuma Koyo High School here are saying goodbye to the temporary facilities where they spent their entire high school years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 destroyed their school.
The senior students, who graduate in March, reflected on their time at the school with a special outdoor projection event on Feb. 8 using an exterior wall of the prefabricated gym hall as a big screen.
“The event is part of our effort to give our departing students fond memories, even if only a few,” said Kenichi Chida, the school principal.
The event, which started after dusk, featured projections of pictures documenting the seniors' school memories on the large wall of the gymnasium, measuring 28 meters wide and 8 meters high.
Messages of appreciation from junior students also adorned the gym hall, which students have used since November 2011.
Classes at the public high school, formerly located near the coast, are still held in temporary buildings that were constructed on the grounds of an inland high school following the disaster.