Greetings!
The moment is finally here! Yesterday, LTI + SLP journeyed to the Vanke headquarters in Shenzhen, China’s largest Real Estate firm to greet the final twenty-eight students for the first time. The session started off with an introduction to China Development Initiative’s purpose and motivation for the 2009 Summer Service Leadership Program. This year’s students include Roy, an upcoming biomedical entrepreneur and Amy, a passionate upcoming mathematician and professor. One student, Roben, even expressed his professional dream of becoming the next International Diplomat for China. The students and mentors proceeded to introduce themselves and mingle before initial icebreakers started.
The activities commenced with a simple name and fact game called Big Wind Blows. One student stands in the center and relays an interesting fact about himself or herself. Throughout the course of this initial icebreaker, the students and the mentors bonded over many commonalities.
Students Rising from “Back-to Back” Icebreaker
As the students became more comfortable around each other and the mentors, Elephant was introduced. In this activity, a student in the middle of a circle calls out another student’s name and a noun. The selected student as well as the students directly surrounding him or her must act out a specific task within an allotted amount of time. Elephant not only extended the name game, but it also taught the students to let loose and have fun.
Sandra, David, and Jia demonstrating “Elephant” Ice Breaker
The Human Knot completed the activities as students worked closely together, both physically and mentally, to untangle themselves from each other. The Knot cleverly and subtly introduced fundamental themes for LTI, communication and teamwork.
The day concluded with a tour of Vanke. We learned about their extensive program to engineer facilities specifically for the ease and comfort of senior citizens, as well as the average Chinese family. The company is hosting the project and donating a total of $10,000 yuan to aid in the students’ final project, a service initiative for a local elementary school, composed primarily of migrant workers’ children.
Although the day may be over, SLP was not! The first group, Cultural Differences, continued to run through the activities to prepare for the first official day of the program August 21st, 2009. More to come about the class then!
For the last day before the festivities begin, we journeyed to Hong Kong for a day of sightseeing and meeting with the MIT Hong Kong Alumni Club. We toured the famous Street Market, visited the Hong Kong History Museum, and strolled through the Walk of the Stars Harbor. We concluded the day with a ferry ride to Hong Kong’s financial district to meet with the Alumni in the Hong Kong area over drinks and snacks. Martin Tang, the president of the MIT Hong Kong Alumni Club and grandson of the famous Jack C. Tang, whom the Tang Center/ Wong Auditorium is named after, also made an appearance.
SLP at the Hong Kong History Museum
Well, the time has finally come. In less than six hours, the project will commence, and new leaders will emerge!
-Jia
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