Activities are a fundamental component of YCID, as they provide a refreshing balance to academic studies. Our activities prepare students for their future by prioritization and cultural engagement, creative expression, exploration of extracurricular interests and community development. Through both individual self-expression and cooperative collaboration, students of YCID become the best of both worlds, connecting a Western spirit into their native Eastern culture.
Community Garden
Community Organic Gardening teaches students to understand the relationship between our human and natural world. Our YCID Garden activists took on the leadership role community in Jane Goodall’s international Roots and Shoots programs for young gardeners. The students also designed and built a garden shed to store our tools and materials, as well as designed and built a water catchment box that could easily store extra rain water so the garden could easily be replenished. In addition, students produced a recycling system so other students could leave the garden areas clean and tidy.
Dragon & Eagle Dialogue
The YCID Dragon & Eagle Dialogue began in 2012 and is our annual international roundtable discussion led by our sophomore students. At this symposium, YCID and other foreign students come together to explore different perspectives on solving intractable global challenges to the environment. Using our unique shared inquiry methods we planned for a discussion about: “What can students do to restore the US and China environmentally? And why is this idea important?” This event was held in conjunction with the Berkley High Student Council from California and other international students in Shenzhen.
2013 - Sustainable Agriculture, Food Safety and Animal Ethics. Guest moderators included Wen Bo, President of Greenpeace China, and Paul Wong of Blue-Green Shenzhen. Readings included: Great Books - "What is in the World? Environmental Reader"; Nature article "USA Vigilance in Humane Treatment of Food and Animals"; "One Third Greenhouse Emissions From Agriculture".
2014 - Our Scared Resources: Restoring, Sustaining and Conserving Water. The Nanshan District-wide event included representation from over ten schools, rich dialogues from technology and government sectors of the district as well as Chinese NGOs. A special keynote speech as given by Professor Geng Xu of Beijing University-SZ's Department of Environment and Energy. Readings included excerpts from "The Tragedy of the Commons" by Garrett Hardin, "A Biomimicry Primer" by Janine Benyus, and "The Closing Circle" by Barry Commoner.
2015 - Are We Together as One? The Yin Yang of Gender in Our History and Societies. This year's event will delve into an issue that has been central in the social evolution of global society: gender. Who we are as men and women, and what kind of history, culture and relationships we have developed by how we think about gender, has shaped our societies. Not only will we look at our origins and process, but we will also discuss ideas about how gender will evolve into the future. Dialogues, an activity fair, and a "Culture Hack" will help us consider these topics through different lenses and types of experiences.
2013 - Sustainable Agriculture, Food Safety and Animal Ethics. Guest moderators included Wen Bo, President of Greenpeace China, and Paul Wong of Blue-Green Shenzhen. Readings included: Great Books - "What is in the World? Environmental Reader"; Nature article "USA Vigilance in Humane Treatment of Food and Animals"; "One Third Greenhouse Emissions From Agriculture".
2014 - Our Scared Resources: Restoring, Sustaining and Conserving Water. The Nanshan District-wide event included representation from over ten schools, rich dialogues from technology and government sectors of the district as well as Chinese NGOs. A special keynote speech as given by Professor Geng Xu of Beijing University-SZ's Department of Environment and Energy. Readings included excerpts from "The Tragedy of the Commons" by Garrett Hardin, "A Biomimicry Primer" by Janine Benyus, and "The Closing Circle" by Barry Commoner.
2015 - Are We Together as One? The Yin Yang of Gender in Our History and Societies. This year's event will delve into an issue that has been central in the social evolution of global society: gender. Who we are as men and women, and what kind of history, culture and relationships we have developed by how we think about gender, has shaped our societies. Not only will we look at our origins and process, but we will also discuss ideas about how gender will evolve into the future. Dialogues, an activity fair, and a "Culture Hack" will help us consider these topics through different lenses and types of experiences.
Western Holidays Celebration
YCID students celebrate the major western holidays, such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas with all teachers in YCID. Usually students do not celebrate the western holidays in China, but it is important to recognize these holidays, just as much as we recognize the valuable time in the classroom. We feel that it is important to create atmosphere for the students, as they will celebrate them with familiarity once they are at American universities.
The students decorate the classroom with frightening masks, pumpkin-shaped lights to create a Halloween . Teachers carve turkeys and serve slices of fresh pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day. Students and teachers decorate the classroom with Christmas tree ornaments and stockings, then top it off with a pajama party to open Secret Santa presents at Christmas morning.
Celebrating western holidays not only prepare students for these traditions once they study in America, but they also foster the important sense of belonging and that sets the YCID community into a true family.
The students decorate the classroom with frightening masks, pumpkin-shaped lights to create a Halloween . Teachers carve turkeys and serve slices of fresh pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day. Students and teachers decorate the classroom with Christmas tree ornaments and stockings, then top it off with a pajama party to open Secret Santa presents at Christmas morning.
Celebrating western holidays not only prepare students for these traditions once they study in America, but they also foster the important sense of belonging and that sets the YCID community into a true family.
Sports Education
YCID provides a various of sports for student physical education and coordination. They play basketball, soccer, football, volleyball, and badminton informally and in school tournaments. In addition, American teachers lead the American Physical Education class in the senior year to expose students to American sports, such as flag football, as well as the principles of intramural sports, a central facet of campus living and forming relationships.
Mural Design Program
The Mural Design Program challenged students who never had the chance to paint anything in the world to represent the class. The students worked together to make a mural design proposal, bought the materials, and painted the whole wall creatively as a team. They drew different symbols from the world to show the cohesiveness of different cultures, from the Statue of Liberty to the Tour Eiffel. They finished the mural with colored handprints with their name to leave an indelible mark on their shared masterpiece.
Spirit Summit
The Spirit Summit demonstrated YCID students’ ability to combine learning about the western concepts of religion, faith, and human spirit movements, such as civil rights movements, with ideas they have for improving the spirit of the world. Students combined academic learning with theater and creativity to share ideas they would like others to consider. This is just one of the ways that YCID helps students to become not only knowledgeable, but also equips them with the skills to take action and be leaders toward improving the spirit of the world.
Tall Tales and Morality Plays
The Tall Tales and Morality Plays provided a performance stage to show centered on the Humanities unit of American tall tales. Rooted in the spirit of larger-than-life figures with hyperbolized feats, sophomores student groups wrote, directed, and produced three plays that showed heroic values. These plays were performed for students of our neighboring YuCai Primary School, who were entertained and taught in the art of original theatre.
WeE! Fest
The WeE! Fest created an evening of fabulous exhibitors showcasing their dreams and talents. The Class of 2015 presented their college and career aspirations with base works from the College and Career Readiness course, while the Class of 2014 showed us their visions of an ideal future with their sheer talents in music, artwork, and filmography. This was our final event for he 2012/2013 school year, which ended with a bang with this event, attended by over a hundred parents and YCHS traditional students.
Showcase Exhibition
The Showcase Exhibition integrates what they have learned in Humanities, Nature Sciences, Social Sciences to one theme by demonstrating to the audience their different ideas with drawings, stories, videos, photo books, et cetera.