The University is home to a plethora of clubs and organizations. Some tend to be more exclusive, while others just want motivated students to take part. Although there are clubs with different sorts of stereotypes, the students at Chinese Philanthropic Leadership Association are trying to break their own stereotypes inside and outside club events and meetings.
It all started in a basement.
Dian Du and her friend had just returned from a conference in San Diego and wanted to create a project that helped children in rural China, as well as educated the local communities about the environment. After throwing ideas about, Dian reflected on her childhood education in urban China, and an idea began to flicker.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=du@@
With over 1.3 billion people, the gap between the rural and urban communities in China has been increasing. Every year, Du witnessed her urban schools throw out thousands of new and lightly used textbooks. The books were not reused or recycled. Some rural schools in China had one textbook for every 20 kids or one teacher for grades kindergarten through high school. Some had no chairs, benches or school supplies. With the knowledge of the educational inequalities in rural and urban China, Du knew something needed to be done.
And in that basement, Du and her friend created CPLA.
With only four months as an organization under its belt, CPLA has recruited over 32 members.
One of them is Charlie Campbell.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=campbell@@
Besides Mandarin Chinese not being Campbell’s native language, he is currently the only Caucasian in the group.
With frequent backlash from friends, Campbell, CPLA’s vice president of promotion, has witnessed how some University students stereotype Asian students. “I had a friend who talked about having to work in a group project with an Asian, and he talked about how the student didn’t understand things,” Campbell said. “With a language barrier it is so much more challenging to express ideas, to speak up and contribute.”
Campbell, a University sophomore, took Mandarin Chinese in high school as well as college. But after traveling to China this past winter break, Campbell felt his language capabilities transform over night.
With the love for the language and the desire to learn more, Campbell met Du at a Holden Leadership Center event and decided CPLA was just the club he was looking for.
CPLA’s current project — Transforming Waste Into Empowerment — will let eight members as well as John Duncan, the Director of the Holden Leadership Center, travel to China’s Hunan Province to work with both urban and rural children.
The project consists of blending 20 rural children with 20 urban children, trading the textbooks and a two-day camp out with food and activities for the children.
Cindy Han Cao, CPLA’s vice president of personal management, said, “I want to help the children, and there are a lot of people in China that need help as well.”@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=cao@@
While this summer is for CPLA members only, next year the group is planning a project called International Leadership Syndicate — where only American or non-Chinese students would have the opportunity to travel to China.
“We want American students to have the opportunity to know both sides of China,” Du said.
While CPLA aims for initiatives abroad, Campbell recently held a workshop for CPLA members about how to network on campus. It included tips on how to keep conversations going, dos and don’ts, public speaking and presenting, and different opportunities to talk with American students. Du hopes this will help Chinese students get out of their comfort zones, become more confident and see what they can learn from Americans.
“People think Chinese are quiet, they drive nice cars and that they stick together,” Campbell said. “It is true that Chinese students like to hang out with each other and talk in Chinese, but CPLA is trying to help break (those stereotypes).”
The organization’s membership positions require students to have both a Chinese and English language background. But the grassroots, concrete mission of CPLA is to help Chinese students feel more connected to campus and to break stereotypes on both ends.
Of course, this outreach requires students to meet CPLA half way. While we stereotype people because it makes us feel comfortable identifying who we think people are, it often tends to be wrong. The students of CPLA are working to break their own stereotypes — we should also be doing the same from the other end.
“We want to be friends with American students,” Du said. “We sometimes just don’t know how.”
It all started in a basement.
Dian Du and her friend had just returned from a conference in San Diego and wanted to create a project that helped children in rural China, as well as educated the local communities about the environment. After throwing ideas about, Dian reflected on her childhood education in urban China, and an idea began to flicker.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=du@@
With over 1.3 billion people, the gap between the rural and urban communities in China has been increasing. Every year, Du witnessed her urban schools throw out thousands of new and lightly used textbooks. The books were not reused or recycled. Some rural schools in China had one textbook for every 20 kids or one teacher for grades kindergarten through high school. Some had no chairs, benches or school supplies. With the knowledge of the educational inequalities in rural and urban China, Du knew something needed to be done.
And in that basement, Du and her friend created CPLA.
With only four months as an organization under its belt, CPLA has recruited over 32 members.
One of them is Charlie Campbell.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=campbell@@
Besides Mandarin Chinese not being Campbell’s native language, he is currently the only Caucasian in the group.
With frequent backlash from friends, Campbell, CPLA’s vice president of promotion, has witnessed how some University students stereotype Asian students. “I had a friend who talked about having to work in a group project with an Asian, and he talked about how the student didn’t understand things,” Campbell said. “With a language barrier it is so much more challenging to express ideas, to speak up and contribute.”
Campbell, a University sophomore, took Mandarin Chinese in high school as well as college. But after traveling to China this past winter break, Campbell felt his language capabilities transform over night.
With the love for the language and the desire to learn more, Campbell met Du at a Holden Leadership Center event and decided CPLA was just the club he was looking for.
CPLA’s current project — Transforming Waste Into Empowerment — will let eight members as well as John Duncan, the Director of the Holden Leadership Center, travel to China’s Hunan Province to work with both urban and rural children.
The project consists of blending 20 rural children with 20 urban children, trading the textbooks and a two-day camp out with food and activities for the children.
Cindy Han Cao, CPLA’s vice president of personal management, said, “I want to help the children, and there are a lot of people in China that need help as well.”@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=cao@@
While this summer is for CPLA members only, next year the group is planning a project called International Leadership Syndicate — where only American or non-Chinese students would have the opportunity to travel to China.
“We want American students to have the opportunity to know both sides of China,” Du said.
While CPLA aims for initiatives abroad, Campbell recently held a workshop for CPLA members about how to network on campus. It included tips on how to keep conversations going, dos and don’ts, public speaking and presenting, and different opportunities to talk with American students. Du hopes this will help Chinese students get out of their comfort zones, become more confident and see what they can learn from Americans.
“People think Chinese are quiet, they drive nice cars and that they stick together,” Campbell said. “It is true that Chinese students like to hang out with each other and talk in Chinese, but CPLA is trying to help break (those stereotypes).”
The organization’s membership positions require students to have both a Chinese and English language background. But the grassroots, concrete mission of CPLA is to help Chinese students feel more connected to campus and to break stereotypes on both ends.
Of course, this outreach requires students to meet CPLA half way. While we stereotype people because it makes us feel comfortable identifying who we think people are, it often tends to be wrong. The students of CPLA are working to break their own stereotypes — we should also be doing the same from the other end.
“We want to be friends with American students,” Du said. “We sometimes just don’t know how.”
