Summer Camp: Get Your UN On with WildChina & The Dewey Center

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Summer Camp

It isn’t quite summertime, but we’re all looking forward to a little rest after the tumultuous year and a half that’s past. Some families treat summer like a lazy time, others as the fourth semester of school, but we all know that come July, some kind of break from the norm is in order. That’s where here we at Jingkids come in, ready to rock your scheduling world with these summer camp highlights. Each week we’ll go behind the scenes of a camp so you can make the right choice for your family!

Sustainability isn’t just a buzzword to make companies feel better about climate change, and it isn’t just a cute new way to reference environmentalism. But sustainable efforts can sometimes feel too abstract when you have your whole life ahead of you. The United Nations came together to create policies and challenges surrounding the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but how to train our young people to take the charge and feel not just real ownership over their future, but the confidence they have the ability to change it?

That’s why the Dewey Center and WildChina decided to collaborate to bring the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development into the realities of Beijing teens, through an innovative summer camp that will not only give them hands-on, holistic experience to enact real change, but also offer career opportunities.

The students will be empowered by experiential learning in this camp. Haena Kim, Director of WildChina Education, explains how “During the program students investigate urban economies and cultures from a global perspective, take part in creating and designing urban green spaces, hike on the wild Great Wall, work on the Great Wall restoration project, examine and model sustainable water systems, participate in Model United Nations activities and, in short, truly exemplify the Dewey concept that “education is life.”

Dewey China Center Senior Vice President and Head of Asia Eric Yuan elaborates that they are “committed to empowering a new generation of international young elites for a better world.”

Yet benefits of this camp can extend far beyond just the week of attendance. Besides the opportunity for teens to present their ideas to such esteemed leaders as Irina Bokova or Ban Ki-moon, the camp also sets the stage for students who want to launch diplomatic and political careers. Kim tells us that “certain students will be representing the Dewey Center at international conferences held at places like Geneva, Switzerland as a result of participating in this summer camp, and all teens involved in the camp will also get extensive experience in “exactly how peer-to-peer cooperation, systemic cooperation, and dialogue can enact change.” Thanks to the camps’ connections to the Ban Ki-moon center and the UN, teenagers will understand firsthand how important good communication is to their future.

“I believe it’s only a start,” Yuan tells us, “both Dewey Center and our partner Ban Ki-Moon Center will work together later to select young leaders domestically and internationally for joint international initiatives which will be in partnership of World’s leading universities and international organizations after [the] pandemic. Now is the best opportunity to be part of Dewey’s SDGs community for future global engagement.”

No one can underestimate the importance of summer camps for reasons outside what they’ll actually learn, and that’s why Kim also believes that “Going to a summer camp is one of the best ways for kids to interact with each other and form new relationships with people who aren’t in the same school, or from the same background.”

Summer Camp Facts

Who: The Dewey Center and WildChina, endorsed by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former UNESCO Director-General Ms. Bokova

What: Reimagine the urban communities of Beijing and “greenness” to make green space a more integral part of their urban, everyday life, industries, and nature.

Where: The Dewey Center’s new international center in Beijing
西大望路爱工场文化科技融合产业园
Xidawang road Aigongchang Wenhua Keji Ronghe Chanyeyuan

When: Camps will run in July and August; more details forthcoming

How: Email [e-mail] for more information

Ages: 12 – 17

Prices: RMB 10,500/student including room and board, meals

Curriculum: The Model United Nations curriculum of the Dewey Summer Program gives students the opportunity to present their thoughts and have in-depth exchanges about the SDGs with former UN Deputy Secretary-General Kim Won-soo, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State James Keith, amongst many other esteemed international and Chinese experts and scholars in the field.

Conclusion: Students participating in the camp will receive a completion certificate from the Dewey Center and outstanding participants will be extended an invitation to participate in high-level international dialogue and activity events jointly organized by the Dewey Center and the Ban Ki-moon Center. Furthermore, once international travel allows, these students will have the opportunity to visit and interact with members at United Nations offices in Switzerland, world-renowned universities, and at the Dewey Center’s global conferences.

About the Dewey Center:

Eponymously named after the world-renowned educator Dr. John Dewey, the Dewey Center and its programs encapsulate Dr. Dewey’s philosophy such as “Learning by doing”, “Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself”.  Dr. Dewey has had a lasting influence in China and indeed many 20th century leaders of education in China such as Tao Xingzhi, Jiang Menglin, Feng Youlan, were his disciples. The former president of Peking University, Cai Yuanpei, who was also a student of Dr. Dewey called him a modern “Western Confucius.” In 2019, which commemorated the 160th anniversary of Dr. Dewey’s birth and the 100th anniversary of his visit to China, the Dewey Center China opened by the support of  Ban Ki-moon Center, the University of Chicago, and its Lab school, the world-famous “Dewey School”. His excellency, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General of United Nation attended the ceremony and declared the opening of the Dewey Center China.

About WildChina:

The execution partners for the Dewey Center’s Summer Programs, WildChina Education have been recognized by the National Geographic, the Global Youth Travel Awards for its creativity in experience design. They are the curators of experiential learning experiences for the world’s leading institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Dulwich, Nord Anglia, Wellington, Harrow, and many more. Their commitment to safety, sustainability, and innovative high-quality programming has made WildChina Education Asia’s oldest and most established leader in experiential education. Programs run by WildChina Education integrate the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as creativity, action, and service and is a proud member of the Global Sustainability Forum as well as the International Ecotourism Society.

Images: WildChina, Dewey Center, giphy

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