On Tuesday, the Division of World Languages announced that a new trip to China, focused on sports in Chinese culture, would take place from August 8 to August 18. Gongming Yan of the Chinese Department will guide the trip, taking six Andover student athletes to visit Beijing, Suzhou and Shanghai. The idea for the trip first arose a month ago when Andover received an email from their Chinese partner school, Renmin High School, inviting Andover to come to China. Peter Merrill, Head of the Division of World Languages and a coordinator for the trip, said he viewed the trip as a great cultural opportunity that extended into another discipline: athletics. The group from Andover will participate with their partner school during the main portion of the trip in Beijing. Beijing is the site of the 2008 Summer Olympics, and preparation for these world games is well under way. In Beijing, students will meet Chinese athletes and visit Chinese sports venues. Andover will be one of 20 schools worldwide taking part in the various activities in Beijing. In order for students to get the most out of the trip, Mr. Merrill said that athletes will receive priority in the application process. Merrill said that it is important for athletes to go on the trip for two reasons. The first is that with numerous students attending from various countries and speaking different languages, sports can provide a common ground. The other reason is because Merrill feels American athletes should see how other societies are organized around sports. Following the stay in Beijing, the group will head off individually to Suzhou and then to Shanghai. Merrill and Yan personally chose these cities. Shanghai was chosen because it is the site of the 2007 Special Olympics, and this goes along with the trip’s athletic theme. Suzhou was selected as the place to showcase the incredible economic growth and development that China has experienced in the past year. Traveling to Suzhou will provide the opportunity to visit a Chinese factory. Mr. Yan will be acting as the tour guide for the trip. Yan is familiar with the Beijing area and the Renmin High School, having been there four times. In addition, Yan will already be in Beijing when the group arrives because he is also a chaperone for the Chinese department’s five-week Summer Abroad program. About his vision of the Beijing, Olympic trip, Yan said, “I think it will introduce students to a cultural atmosphere and hopefully it will encourage an enjoyment in the Chinese culture and language.” Yan also said that he supports the idea that some non-Chinese speaking students be able to attend the trip. On this topic, Yan said, “Part of the goal, I think, is to see if we can send non-Chinese speaking students to China and see how they can do there.” In order to make sure that the trip gathered interest, Head of School Barbara Chase and Dean of Faculty Temba Maquebela accessed a separate account to partially fund the program. Mr. Merrill said, “Since we didn’t want to say no to our partner school and because the trip is being announced so late, the school greatly reduced the charges.” At this point, students are really only responsible for paying for airfare. Additionally, aside from the monetary aid provided by Andover, Renmin High School will be paying for the Beijing portion of the trip. Thus far, the program has not had trouble finding applicants. On Tuesday, May 15, one day before the application deadline, the language department had already received 20 applications. One hopeful, Kaitlin Gaiss ’09, said that she was interested in the trip because it combines her background in Chinese and sports. Gaiss said, “To me, this trip sounded perfect because, although I wanted to, I couldn’t go on the five-week SYA trip to China due to a lacrosse tournament. This program would be great, as hopefully I will be able to go on the trip, learn more about sports and continue learning Chinese.” In the past years, Andover has worked on strengthening its relationship with their partner schools. In November, Mrs. Chase traveled to Beijing and visited Renmin High School to reinforce the connection between the schools.
