From October 3-11, six students from our AP center (Zhuolun Wu, Jingjing Wang, Yifan Xu, Yiqing Jiang, Zhenghao Liu, and Shen Liu) participated in this year's International Emerging Leaders Conference, hosted by one of our sister schools in America, Collegiate School in Richmond. Representatives from nine countries took part in the conference including students from America, China, Spain, Ghana, Morocco, Italy, France, Kazakhstan, and Mexico. However, as a result of the ongoing pandemic, the conference took place entirely on-line. Despite the format change, students engaged with each other in what turned out to be a successful intercultural exchange.  

During the conference, participants were split into groups who would take on a unique environmental challenge currently affecting a country. Dr. Wang helped to oversee and guide students to successfully collaborate to find ways to mitigate their unique issue. Though students tackled completely issues unfamiliar to them, they courageously cooperated with students from totally different cultural backgrounds and worked hard to come up with a joint plan within their respective group.

Our students’ active participation and outstanding contributions impressed both the participants and teachers, from our host school. Upon completion, students expressed that the experience was a valuable cross-cultural experience and helped them get involved in global issues that positively impacted people’s lives.