SHS hosted the 2014 Harvard AUSCR Summit for Young Leaders in China (HSYLC)

From August 12-19, the 2014 Harvard AUSCR Summit for Young Leaders in China was held successfully on the beautiful campus of Shanghai High School.

HAUSCR is an official organization of Harvard College and is a registered 501(c)3 federal nonprofit organization. Its flagship program, the Harvard AUSCR Summit for Young Leaders in China (HSYLC), launched in the summer of 2006. Its goal is to foster the qualities of Leadership, Scholarship, Citizenship, and Entrepreneurship in the students of both countries through a synergistic combination of education, cultural exchange, and meaningful dialogue. It’s the fouth time SHS hosts this annual event on campus. Over 350 top high school students from all over China and more than 50 seminar leaders from Harvard College as well as more than 50 teaching assistants and volunteers selected from top Chinese universities spent 10 days together at SHS. During the summit, students chose to attend seminars focused on various topics, listened to speeches on different areas and themes; participated in house games and sports competitions and made new friends at cocktail party and talent show. The HSYLC gave them a real taste of the college life at Harvard College for freshmen.

One important part of the HSYLC is the public speeches given by figures from different areas and fields. This year, the guest speakers included public stars such as Yao, Ming and Le, Jia; and some professionals such as Ms Yong, Yi, the program manager of WBB Shanghai Office ( World Wide Fund For Nature) etc. They shared their life experiences and thoughts openly with the students who gave them a round applause for their great ideas and sharing.

On the night of the 19th, a grand closing ceremony as well as a happy talent show was held in the big auditorium to celebrate the success of the 2014 HSYLC. Though the summit was only 10 days long, students and seminar leaders already became good fiends with each other and it’s hard for them to say goodbye to each other at the closing ceremony with their laughs and tears.

About 20 students from SHS and SHSID were admitted into the 2014 HSYLC. Here below is the refection of one of the rising seniors, Daniel Cai.

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Of the six thousand who applied, the committee put together two classes of three hundred, split between Beijing and Shanghai. I was just one of them. Now, usually I do not talk about, or try to recall, opening ceremonies, but this time was special. On the all-too-familiar auditorium projector screen, a series of animated infographics flashed to and forth. It reminded me that sitting to my left and right were some of China's most exceptional students–either very similar to or different from me.They were best delegates, student body presidents, environmentalists, valedictorians, and pianists. They were also beat boxers, gymnasts, film makers, sculptors, and er-hu-ists. And like the Harvard students who were our housemasters and seminar leaders, I felt each and every HSYLCer had just as compelling a story behind their unassuming dispositions. We were not just an assembly of minds, but rather a concoction of richly woven narratives.

With the essence of a liberal arts education, each and every one of us put together our own set of courses from a list of forty. With four seminar topics of our choice, the week-long Workshop for Action and Social Innovation, and countless speaker sessions, I am confident we all emerged a little bit wiser and a little more attracted to that special Harvard touch.

It was during one of these seminars, Monty Python and the Meaning of Life, that I learned to combine classical philosophy, humor, and my past experiences to realize how important it was to admit my own flaws with humor. It was a new way of treating the setbacks in my life in a constructive way that I had never thought of before and quite desparately needed. And as Mark Twain once remarked, “Humor is the great thing, the saving thing after all.”

Just like any exceptional program or instution, I found the most exciting component was meeting new people. The video didn't lie. Surrounding me were indeed some of the most amazing individuals I had met in China. And with so many opportunities to engage with one another, it was very difficult, impossible even, to leave without an expanse of new, meaningful connections. What made these connections even deeper were the houses. Like the residential colleges at Harvard, the three hundred of us were split into twelve distinct houses, each with a flag, a theme, a chant, and Harvard housemasters. Though our courses would take us to different classrooms during the day, our evenings were spent together bonding and competing against the other houses. And though we all aimed for the end result, we knew that the laughs and tears were what we would remember years later.