ERDT enVision China Adventure 2016!

A group of 10 teachers for the enVision Social Research in America (SRA) program visited China from November 5 to November 14, 2016. The SRA course is held twice a year – winter (January/February) and summer (July/August). The participants are Chinese university students who come to California for a 17-day home stay and culture program that is structured around five topic areas: Education, Public Safety, Healthcare, Public Service & Volunteerism, & Family Structure. Workshops relevant to each topic area are given & onsite visits to universities, community colleges, & high schools; police & fire departments; hospitals & medical centers; & local community non-profit organizations are provided.

A group of 10 teachers for the enVision Social Research in America (SRA) program visited China from November 5 to November 14, 2016. The SRA course is held twice a year – winter (January/February) and summer (July/August). The participants are Chinese university students who come to California for a 17-day home stay and culture program that is structured around five topic areas: Education, Public Safety, Healthcare, Public Service & Volunteerism, & Family Structure. Workshops relevant to each topic area are given & onsite visits to universities, community colleges, & high schools; police & fire departments; hospitals & medical centers; & local community non-profit organizations are provided.

The group, accompanied by Roger Riske, ERDT President Emeritus; Colin Churchill, ERDT Executive Director; Tracy Gautier ERDT enVision Director, arrived on Saturday, November 5.  On Sunday, November 6, while struggling heroically with jetlag, the group visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City in Beijing.

From left to right: Cindy Vance, Karen McGovern, Eric Gautier, Jonathan Livermore, Tracy Gautier, Margarita Chang, Colin Churchill, Rosemary Netzel, Anna Zhang, Mandy Osburn, Alfonso Alvarez, Tronie Rifkin, Detra Sims, Stacy Simpson.

On Monday, November 7, the group met with personnel from our Beijing-based Chinese partner.

Here the group is welcomed by Jerry Wang, CSCEE President, & Anna Zhang, CSCEE Program Specialist in charge of the SRA program.

We listened attentively…. From right to left: Mandy Osburn, Eric Gautier, Tronie Rifkin, Detra Sims, Rosemary Netzel

On Monday & Tuesday, the group split into traveling pairs and departed to various universities throughout China to meet with university personnel, and to give presentations to prospective applicants for the Winter 2017 SRA program. Teachers also had the opportunity to meet with students from university student SRA groups that they have taught in previous years.

Here Karen McGovern & Mandy Osburn meet with Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) students whom Karen taught on the SRA program in Summer 2016.

As well as Beijing & Nantong, enVision SRA teachers visited universities in Dalian, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen.

The group went sightseeing to the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, and the Temple of Heaven on Saturday & Sunday, and returned to California on Monday, November 14.

Stacy Simpson enjoys hot pot with the SRA students from Nantong University (near Shanghai) whom she taught in Summer 2017: