Approximately 36 hours ago, the LTI crew, David Zou, Taylor Jay, and Jia Zhu arrived at Hong Kong International Airport ready for the adventure ahead of us. After 5 hours of miscellaneous travel, we finally arrived at our Inn, ready for LTI’s partnership with MIT’s China Development Initiative (CDI) to commence as the 2009 Service Leadership Program in Shenzhen, China.
Members of SLP at Their First Dinner Together
The first night and day centered on mentor and SLP coordinator bonding. We got to know the main coordinators, Wesley Koo, Jack Chen, and Naisi Gao all the other SLP members over our first Chinese meal. David Zou even ventured to ingest a silk worm pupa, which was certainly an acquired taste. Taylor and Jia abstained.
A Bowl of Deep Fried Silk Pupas... Mmmm
After meals and a brief introduction to Chinese karaoke, the groups got down to business. The Service Leadership Program is composed of 4 teams based on four emphasized themes of leadership and service, Cultural Differences, International Relations, Education, and Technology and Entrepreneurship. Each team is responsible for leading icebreakers and other activities adapted from LTI’s spring student curriculum for 2 out of the 8 total days of the program. Today’s meetings focused on generating a schedule for intense course preparation and program logistics.
The Karaoke Lounge
In the following couple of days, the SLP group plans to venture to Vanke, the largest real estate development firm in China. Vanke’s student selection process was held three days ago. Seventy-five finalists from around the Shenzhen area competed in a final selection process that consisted of a written English application, English speech, and a talent competition recorded and broadcast by the local media. Twenty-five finalists were selected by a panel of judges, who included CDI’s Naisi Gao and Jack Chen.
Tomorrow, the SLP team will embark on a local Shenzhen cultural adventure followed by intense curriculum revision and presentation. More to come!
-Jia
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