From Nov. 8-17, 2019, Frank Fu ‘21, who is double-majoring in Sport Management as well as Visual and Dramatic Arts, was selected to lead the most elite high school students from China as they experienced Harvard University for a week with the goal of advancing the cross-cultural exchange between Chinese and U.S. students.
The program, HWeek, extends an invitation to the top Chinese students who participated in The Harvard AUSCR Summit for Young Leaders in China (HSYLC), a liberal arts summer camp at the university. During HWeek, students experience Harvard through lectures, professor discussions, and performances.
Last summer, Fu, who is originally from Beijing, China, was a teaching fellow at HSYLC. He enjoyed his experience over the summer so he applied and was selected to return to the program for HWeek. Fu was responsible for the students while they were not in classes or planned events: managing their schedules and being a resource and role model for them.
“My favorite part was being with the kids, it was really valuable,” Fu said. “You get to see their perspective of things.”
Both HWeek and HSYLC, put on by the Harvard College Associated for U.S.-China Relations, have the goal of improving the two countries’ relations. Students from Harvard visited high schools in China where they gave seminars to inform locals about what it is like to attend a university in the U.S. From there, the Chinese students had the opportunity to apply to Harvard’s programs.
HWeek concluded with a humanities fair where the students displayed their projects from the week. Students could focus on a topic of their choosing in writing, art, or music. Fu enjoyed helping the students with their projects from the development stage through the final presentation.
“I started out in a similar place as them and now am able to give back,” Fu said. “It was a tiring but rewarding experience.”
Caleigh Page, a junior from Los Altos, California, is double-majoring in Statistics as well as in Sport Management with a concentration in Sport Analytics.