“Ignite your potential!!!” reads the sign outside the art museum in Dapeng.
It’s the motto of Prometheus Education, a new, ambitious summer program in Shenzhen that caters to Chinese and international high schoolers.
Its aim is both broad and strangely specific: to equip young leaders for the coming years by educating them about contemporary technological innovations and sharpening their interpersonal skills. In other words, it's markedly different from most high school extracurricular options in the mainland, which usually focus on raising test scores or, for those headed abroad, racking up resume-friendly achievements.
Many of the 'mentors' at the camp, each of whom guides a small groups of students, are in college themselves, or just out of it. They boast impressive academic and work backgrounds in a variety of areas, from national Canadian debate team member and program co-founder Julia Qin, to former Chief of staff at IdeaPad, an MIT-based technology startup, Alton Sun.
Besides its employees, another of Prometheus’ major draws is its location in Dapeng’s iDTown, an 'artist’s village' that feels more like a ghost town on a lazy Friday afternoon.
A cool one, though. Wandering down the dusty main street of the area, you’ll see eye-catching graffiti art adorning many of the abandoned factory buildings in the area.
Although small, iDTown's size sometimes works in its favor: a neat little coffee shop is located conveniently across from the street from the art museum where classes are held and the beach is only a short trip away.
An attendee and mentor chat at the coffee shop
On July 21, four days after the camp first started, we joined Prometheus’ 34 high schoolers and their mentors for a more or less typical afternoon's worth of activities: a self-help presentation/workshop entitled 'Being Good to Future You: Clearing the Table,' followed by a talk about active listening and a demonstrative skit.
Co-founders and mentors put on a skit to illustrate active listening
Students are encouraged to discuss their views in groups
It's a little off the beaten track, for sure, but talking to both mentors and students, the general feedback seems to be positive.
Co-founder Max Song explained that the goal here is to develop well-rounded individuals by teaching them about things not usually covered in school: contemporary tech topics such as robotics and VR, for instance, as well as soft skills like "how [to] resolve a difficult relationship."
Students enjoyed making their own robots in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen's tech district
To encourage self-reflection, time is set aside for writing journal entries every day
That's not to say it's been a completely smooth ride so far. Co-founder Julia Qin confessed that outside of logistical issues like watching out for the safety of more than 30 teenagers, communication has been another stumbling block. While some students arrived mature and self-assured, others have had more trouble breaking out their shells. Language barriers between Chinese and international students (who make up 30 percent of attendees) aren’t helping either.
Still, she said, sometimes kids are “like glowsticks”—they need to undergo stress before they can really shine.
Max expressed a similar sentiment: “If it was easy, it wouldn’t mean so much.”
Their point seems to be driven home that very evening. Earlier there had been some disagreements among students over their ongoing “token project,” which requires them to work together to produce an idea for a product and logo. It seemed that the group of motivated, smart high schoolers was nevertheless struggling to reach a consensus.
After hearing about active listening and the art of conflict resolution, the students resumed their work on the project. By about an hour later, they had split up into small groups of two or three, earnestly discussing how to communicate productively with one another: a clear sign of progress.
[Images via Bailey Hu, Xu Shiheng]
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