我的难忘经历 – 参加Beyond Our Boundaries青年峰会

2017年8月，来自美国各地的大约100多名高中生来到芝加哥参加了Beyond Our Boundaries青年峰会。峰会的目的是使亚裔学生们能积极投身到社区和政治活动中去。我和其他9个学生有幸代表APAPA Ohio参加了这次峰会。在四天的课程中，我们开阔了视野，学到了新的知识，并有了新的体验。老实说，参加这次峰会，我学到了很多东西。对我来说，以下两点是Beyond Our Boundaries峰会成功的主要原因：首先它很有教育意义，其次它为学生提供了许多新的体验。

我们通过这次活动学到了许多新的东西。峰会总共四天，其中两天，我们针对当今政治的不同方面，举行了各种相关的研讨会，每个学生自由选择参加。在研讨会里，我们讨论了许多有争议的话题和当今社会问题。峰会第一天，我参加了一个艺术研讨会。我们讨论了艺术在美国政治中的作用，还探讨了如何让艺术在当今美国政治中继续发挥作用。我们了解到艺术的象征意义，还了解到艺术是如何成为影响大众的有力媒介。我们还为第二天的集会制作了标语牌和海报。当天我参加的第二个研讨会是关于游戏文化的毒害性。有很多年轻人在互联网上被欺负而产生心理阴影。我们对各种网络游戏和网站是如何制造并推动了这一仇恨文化的进行了详细讨论。

峰会最后一天，我又参加了两个研讨会。我参加的第一个研讨会是关于当前社会的男权主义。在这个研讨会里，我们讨论了关于工资差距和强奸文化等争议性话题。最后一个关于自我防卫的讲座讲的是打架和暴力等的细节，我们了解到网上的攻击也能在精神上造成伤害，我们还了解了不同类型的自我防卫，学习了如何在生理和心理上保护自己。除此以外还有各种各样其它讲座，我个人只参加了这四个讲座。我在这些活动中认识了好多新朋友，在整个过程中， 我们融入了彼此的文化，互相有了深入了解。总而言之，这些讲座/研讨会以及每天和大家的交流，使这次峰会有了独特的教育价值。

Beyond Our Boundaries峰会的另一极为重要的方面是我们获得了许多新的经历。最宝贵的经历发生在峰会的第二天。在这一天，几乎每一个参加峰会的学生和大人都拿起抗议的标语牌，我们步行了几个街区，一起走到特朗普大厦参加抗议特朗普总统的集会。 一路上，我们高呼着各种抗议口号，我们的口号非常响亮，心中的畏惧都抛到了一边。我们的游行队伍吸引了路边很多行人的注意，其中大部分是支持我们的。大多数学生以前从来没有参加过抗议活动或政治集会，我自己也是第一次参加这种活动，真是大开了眼界！我们都有自己的政治观点但是从来没有这样大声表达过， 这次我们站到了特朗普大厦前一起集会抗议！对我而言， 这次集会意义尤其特别 --- 我在集会上做了演讲！我站在集会大众的面前，分析批判特朗普总统的移民政策，这经历让我终生难忘！

除了这次抗议集会的经历之外， 每个学生还通过这次峰会获得了其它宝贵的经历。首先，我们住在芝加哥市中心的青年旅馆里， 地理位置极好。我们都利用这个地理优势四处走走看看，闲逛探索。其次，许多学生都是第一次参加类似峰会， 学习和了解这些有争议但是重要的问题对大家都是新的经历。最后，对于很多学生来说， 在这么短时间内认识这么多人， 交到这么多朋友，这本身就是很重要很宝贵的经历！以我个人经历而言， 我几乎和所有与会者见了面， 每个人都是让我觉得那么新奇而有意思。这些不同的新朋友，使我大大扩展了我的眼界和世界观。这次峰会就是由一个接一个的新经历构成，我相信我们每个人都会把这些宝贵的经历保存到永远！

总之，这次Beyond Our Boundaries峰会办的非常成功，我希望它继续举办下去。这次峰会给予我们这么多的新知识和新经历，切切实实对我们的生活产生了影响；峰会给了我们与会的每个学生非常好的教育和体验的机会，它将永远是我们生命和生活中的一部分。

英文原文：

Beyond Our Boundaries

by Andy Yu

In the month of august in 2017, about 100 students from around the United States attended a youth conference with the name of Beyond Our Boundaries. This program aimed to make students active in both their communities and the political theatre. Over the four day program, students gained new perspectives, learned new knowledge, and had new experiences. I am a student who attended this program, and I can honestly say I feel more educated after coming out of this program. To me, the Beyond Our Boundaries Summit has two important aspects that make it successful; the first is that it is very educational, and the second is that it provides many new experiences for students.

The first important aspect of this program is the many new things that we learned. On two of the days of the program, we had many different workshops that covered different aspects of current day politics. In these workshops, we learned about controversial issues, present day problems, and more. On the first day, I attended a workshop regarding how art plays a role in current American politics, and how it has in the past as well. We learned about symbolism in art and how it is a powerful medium in which the people can be addressed. Signs and posters were also made in preparation for the rally to be had on the following day. The second workshop of that day was regarding toxic gaming culture, and how many youth are negatively affected by a put-down culture over the internet. We had a detailed discussion regarding many online games, sites, and activities that promoted this hate culture. On the last day, we again had two workshops. The first one I attended was a group discussion regarding patriarchy in our current society. In this talk we discussed things regarding the wage gap, a rape culture, and other controversial topics. The last workshop was a class regarding self defense in order to educate us on details of fighting and violence. We learned about the different types of self defense, from the physical to the mental, and how mental harm can come to you online as well. I personally only attended these four, but there were many available options for each individual to learn about a variety of things. Another aspect of education is the many things we learned from our many new friends. We were immersed in each other's culture and personality for the entire stay, and learned a lot about other people as well. Overall, the many workshops as well as the day to day interactions  provided unique educational value to the summit.

Another extremely important aspect of this program was the many new experiences we gained. The most valuable experience occurred on the second day of the summit. On this day, nearly every single student and all the adults took up signs and marched a couple of blocks all the way down to Trump Tower to protest at a rally. Along the way, many different chants were shouted. These many chants were loud and cast the fear of the students aside as they marched towards the protesting grounds. We drew a lot of attention from passersby, most of whom were in some degree supportive of what we were doing. It is safe to assume that most students have never been to a protest or political rally before. For myself, it was a first, and the experience was extremely eye opening. All the student who held political ideologies but never voiced them now found themselves in front of Trump Tower at a political rally protesting! Personally, I was a speaker at the rally, which means I had an extra experience on top of the rally. Standing in front of a large crowd giving a speech about President Trumps immigration policies was very exhilarating. In addition to the rally, every single student gained new experiences throughout the program. Primarily, living in a hostel in downtown chicago was a very unique situation, and many students took full advantage of it by exploring. In addition, it was many student’s first times at a program like this, so learning about all these important but controversial issues was new for them too. Finally, meeting so many new people and making so many new friends in such a short period of time was important to many students. I myself met nearly everyone who attended and every person was interesting. By meeting all these new people and making so many new friends, I expanded my worldview that much more. Overall, the entire program consisted of endless new experiences that each of us will be keeping for the rest of our lives.

In conclusion, the Beyond Our Boundaries summit was a tremendous success and I would like to see it again in the future. By bestowing so much new knowledge and so many new experiences upon all these students, it really played a role in their lives. The summit was a great educational and experiential opportunity for each and every student that attended, and it will be part of each of us students for the rest of our lives.

编者按：APAPA专注于通过教育、参与和领导能力的培养，提高亚太裔在美国参政、议政的意识和能力。最终的目标是把我们自己的社区做大做好做强。在俄亥俄，我们与其他亚裔和华人组织、机构、企业和个人通过多种方式一起合作，参与社区建设，扩大亚裔的影响力。我们将在我们的公众号推出”俄亥俄华人社区”系列文章，向大家介绍华人的企业、商业、成功人士和青年领袖，相互扶持，相互学习。欢迎大家积极投稿！本文仅代表作者观点，不代表APAPA Ohio官方立场。更多精彩文章，请点击“阅读原文”查看我们公众号的主页。