National security Language Initiative for Youth:
In early of 2015, I had the honor of participating in the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program. In brief, the NSLI-Y program is a governmental initiative that works in hopes to cultivate world leaders within students. During the 2014-2015 school year, as a means of supplementing my knowledge of the Chinese language and culture at Boston Latin School, I participated in the live video conference as a way of exchanging cultural ideas and bringing light to the many differences between an education in China and an education here in America. In preparation for the conference, my teacher and I worked on creating a blog in which would help document my life as a student at Boston Latin School, as well as the activities I partake in after school, displaying both a visual and textual representation of my personal account of an American student’s lifestyle. During the actual conference, we tossed questions back and forth and had a blast for both responding and hearing interesting differences in our cultures. The NSLI-Y program became a vehicle for students in completely different countries to connect over one theme, and that is the love for a certain language and culture. Not only did I learn so much about China’s educational system (such as the national college exam for admittance into college), this experience also opened my eyes and interests of taking this video conference to the next level-- to study abroad. After this encounter with students from halfway across the world, I imagine myself traveling and studying abroad to broaden my knowledge and expand upon my leadership skills. Thus, I would like to thank the NSLI-Y program for having given me such opportunity, and I look forward to potentially collaborating once more!