20/7 group 3

Today was our last day in the Stanford University, we were all excited but also missing our fruitful days spent in here. We had our GSP project presentation  certificate presentation and fabulous farewell party. 

We had our presentation of our Global Solution Projects in the morning. Every group showcased their policies for their islands. We have benefitted a lot after hearing the ideas for different groups and the Q&A sections. We heard different policies that we have never thought of before, for example the Universal Basic Income, and it was surely eye-opening. We also trained our public speaking skills and we felt more confident during presentations.

Then, we had a certificate presentation. On one hand, we were ‘graduating’ in which we gained a lot of invaluable experiences in these two weeks. But on the other hand, we felt so upset for the fact that it marked the end of the trip and we did not want to part with our new met international friends. We would truly miss them so much. When we recalled what we did in the past two weeks, we felt so grateful to all the hard work that the counsellors had offered us.

Last of all, we had our farewell event. After the cluster dinner at the Synergy House, we played some games together and it was so much fun! Next off, we wrote a letter to our future selves to record all the precious moments we had in these two weeks so that we will be able to remember every single memory we created with these amazing people.

After we returned to French House, we had all our kudos read to express our gratitude to our friends and counsellors. Then, we had a dance party. The atmosphere was so intimate, where everyone was hyped and came out to sing and dance. Our Stanford trip has ended with a high note.

We all felt very emotional as this was the last day of our Stanford study tour. A lot of us cried. Even though not all of the lessons we had were that engaging, the whole trip was really a blast and what we have gained and learnt from this trip was both unforgettable and irreplaceable: the international friends we have met, the counselor that guided us, the moments we were together, the memories we shared, the knowledge we have gained... We would definitely miss everything and everyone in this trip.

We sincerely thanks all those who helped us out throughout these two weeks, all the teachers and counselors gave us great advices and created many unforgettable memories with us. We will surely miss all of them and definitely treasure the valuable knowledge we gain in their days!

shopping at stanford bookstore

certificate presentation

farewell event in synergy house

best stategy award for GSP group 3!

group 4 - 20 July 2019

Today was a jam-packed day. We started off with breakfast at Flo-Mo, which was delicious as usual. Then, we went into our Global Solutions Project (GSP) groups, and presented the project we worked on in 2 weeks. Our teammates and us presented Querencia, our country in front of over a hundred people.  As we were the first ones presenting, we were terribly nervous, and we were afraid that we would make an embarrassment out of ourselves. However, after doing our “power pose” taught by instructors in the past 2 weeks, we began to feel more confident, and strived to do our best in the presentation.
Standing on the stage was terrifying — it was the first time we presented in front of so many people from countries all around the world. But we soothed our nerves, and finished the presentation smoothly without any mistakes.
After lunch at Flo-Mo, we went to the certificates  presentation ceremony at Synergy House. We never thought that time would pass by so fast. It was such a memorable and fun trip which we all cherished.
We went to the bookstore after that, and bought some Stanford merchandises for our friends and family as souvenirs.
Then, we went to Synergy House again for the farewell event, in which we played with people from different countries, enjoying our last time together. We would definitely miss them and the counsellors so much. All these activities concluded our trip here, they have made our stay much more wonderful, and were part of the beautiful memories we have created at Stanford.

prize presentation ceremony

GSP group 2 and TAs

Photo with our certificates

Picture with Will and Morgan, our TAs

19 July 2019   Friday
We started our day a lesson on fermenting foods. We were surprised to find that lots of common food in our daily life were fermented, such as cheese and bread. We then did an interesting experiment on fermentation of yeast. We measured the rate of fermentation on different carbohydrates, such as sugar, wood starch, all purpose flour and corn meal.

Our next lesson was Effective Communication. We were amazed at the fact that there were so much logic and techniques to a great speech. We learnt the six principle of persuasion, which was something that got us all engaged in. We also had a chance to present a speech in front of the class and practice our skills of persuading others.

Then, we went to a San Francisco Giants baseball game. Even though we did not know the about baseball game rules, we  were influenced by the sportsmanship of U.S. people and we screamed and shouted so hard to support the Giants team! It was very fun and unforgettable, because it is rare for us to go to big sports competitions like this!


Experiment of fermentation of yeast

 
Baseball game in Orancle Park

19/07/19 (Group 3)

 19/07/19 (Group 3)

Today was almost a countdown to our whole tour. We were anticipated but at the same time regretful as time flies in the blink of an eye. We attended two lessons, Silicon Valley vs World: The Impact of Technology Today and Storytelling through Hip Hop, had a shopping time at the Stanford bookstore, and finally heading out to San Francisco for a baseball match.

In the beginning of the day, we had a lesson on the impact of technology on today’s world. The theme was mainly the technology of face recognition and how it impacted the world. As a controversial issue around the world, we had great interest and thorough understanding on problem after this lesson. By evaluating the pros and cons of different stakeholders, we learnt to respect others opinions and achieved a conclusion of benefits and drawbacks through active discussion. Overall, this lesson was relatively similar to daily lessons at school. Later, we had another lesson, which was storytelling through hip hop. We had a lot of games such as making up 6-words stories or even composing songs! This was truly a fascinating lesson since it was creative and astonishing.

After these formal studies, we finally had a precious time for shopping at Stanford Bookstore! It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us to spent a lot of money to buy a huge bunch of Stanford souvenirs. As we had desperately waited and begged to go there, we all went crazy buying things irrationally.

Out to the highlight of the day, it was the baseball game! This baseball match was a game between the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets. This game was much more than ‘tremendously thrilling’ to describe to this baseball match. Although we didn’t know a lot about the sport baseball, but we were all immersed in the ecstatic atmosphere! In the middle of the match, a baseball suddenly ‘flew’ up the highest level where we were sitting. We were extremely shocked with our mouths opened. We almost got to catch the ball, but we didn’t. When it was the time to leave, we all felt so disappointed since we wanted to continue watching that. After that, we got incredibly exhausted for screaming so hard during the whole time.

Overall speaking, today was full of exposures of new things and new knowledge. These memories would definitely be kept forever. Lastly, we would treasure every time and every second of our life at Stanford University.

Photo taken with our teacher in the lesson of  Silicon Valley vs World: The Impact of Technology Today

Photo taken with our teacher in the storytelling through hip hop lesson 

Out at the baseball game!

19/7/2019 Group 4

Learning how facial recognition technology impacts us and Silicon Valley

This fruitful day started with a class on technology, specifically focused on facial recognition. We realized technology could be used for good and for bad, depending on how we use or abuse it. We learnt that different stakeholders have differing opinions on this controversial topic. For example, the facial recognition could help Silicon Valley police catch criminals, but it could also be used by hackers to steal our identity and money. Through our debating session, we learnt that stakeholders should compromise and accept the pros and cons of facial recognition. This way, we could all achieve a harmonious society.

Learning about hip-hop music and how to compose a song

In the afternoon, we attended a class on how to tell stories using hip-hop. It was really eye-opening as we have never listened to this type of music before so we were really excited to be exposed to another culture. We tried to write our own songs and raps through hip-hop, which was really fun and this lesson provided us with an entirely new experience.

To finish off the day, we went to a baseball game — the SF Giants. We have never been to one, nor are interested in baseball, so this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us. We got to experience the true american culture: being surrounded by people chanting, chatting and eating, all the while staring at the players on the field. It was really exciting to watch and definitely an unforgettable match for all of us.

Our tickets to the game!

Picture in front of the gate before the baseball game

19th July 2019 Group 5

19th July 2019

The first lesson today was about fermented food. We applied our knowledge learnt in biology lessons back in Hong Kong, and had a great time doing experiments with yeast. We investigated the rate of fermentation of different carbohydrates with yeast. We were really grateful that one of our bags, the one with sugar, had formed foam which is really high and thick. This allows us to investigate more closely on the yeast fermentation process.

We did an experiment to investigate the reaction of yeast with different carbohydrates.

Through the effective communication lesson, we learnt valuable things such as the 6 principles of persuasion and the elements of a good speech. By the end of the lesson, we were all assigned to write and present a 2-min speech. The lesson provides us opportunity to practice impromptu speech. This made us step out of our comfort zone and be brave. We loved it!

Right after the second lesson today, we rushed to the Stanford bookstore for shopping. Since we only had about 45 minutes to shop, we all went crazy and bought as much as we could. However, that was such a once in a lifetime experience. We all treasured it so much and also got some souvenirs back to Hong Kong for friends and relatives. 

At night, we went to watch a baseball game, in which the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants competed against one another. The music was hyper and we all got so excited about the match. Some of us even bought snacks such as fried chicken and french fries, which were super delicious. There was a moment when the baseball flew to our auditorium, and Jodie almost got it, but it slipped through her hands and another audience got it. What a pity! There were also some enjoyable moments when the cameras shoved around and caught shots of reactions of the audiences. It was truly a wonderful and unforgettable night!!

We had a great time watching the show ! 

Nice time with our teacher assistant!In the middle of the game, so exciting !

19/7/2019 Friday (group1)

The rewarding day started with our first lesson- Silicon Valley vs the World: the Impact of Technology on. We focused on the development of facial recognition and whether it is worth the development. We learnt about the terrors of abusing this technology. We split into groups to discuss  the pros and cons of facial recognition technology. We all got an opportunity to think about the issue and get a deeper understanding on it. 

Our second lesson was Storytelling through Hip-Hop. We learnt about the elements of hip-hop and listened to some famous hip-hop songs. After that, we did a short remix with our own small story and we had lots of fun. We were super hyped and we all sounded amazing.  

We then went to the bookstore for shopping. We were all very excited and went looking around at all the souvenirs. We had limited time to shop and we hurried to grab everything that caught our attention. We left the bookstore with many Stanford goodies.

After that, we watched a baseball game at San Francisco. It was cold so we were all cladded in our jackets. The atmosphere was hyped and passionate. We cheered along and had lots of fun. We also bought fries and chicken and they were delicious! Special thanks to our teachers who gave us extra fries! The sky was beautiful and we had a lot of fun taking photos as we headed back to the dorms. 

18th July, 2019 (Thursday) Group 1

In the morning, we were introduced to Clinical Neuroanatomy. During the lesson, we learnt the components of the nervous system (central and peripheral), as well as understanding the symptoms and causes behind various clinical disorders (diabetes, menningitis, microphagia). By being aware of the causes of the clinical disorders and  their respective solutions, we realised the importance of understanding human physiology, as we can save lives and help make the world a better place. 

During the afternoon lesson, we learnt about how fermentation works and different kinds of fermented food. During the first part of the lesson, we explored the features of fermentation and different fermented foods across the globe (Cortido, Iganuq, Ogi). We realised the significance of anaerobic respiration towards different cultures. We also did an experiment to investigate the optimal condition for anaerobic respiration to take place. We ended the lesson with a trivial game, and we also realised that donuts are actually fermented! It was a wonderful experience.

18/7/2019 Group 6

To start off the day, we had a class on cultural psychology. We learnt that different cultures will lead to different distinct behaviours due to contrasting traditions and values. Towards the end of the class, we also designed a small-scale project about investigating the disparate divorce rate between the U.S. and China. On the whole, through looking at the case studies Professor Caitlin showed us, we understood that we should learn to look at things and people around us at multiple perspectives.

After lunch, it comes the most exciting lesson of the day — decision making! The professor brought his niece with him to the lesson, which contributes to the diversity of thoughts in the class, we learnt how to make better decisions based on a thought chain, and we have experienced the process of decision-making through flipping the coin. One of our teammate had won $15 usd, and from that we saw the excitement of decisions and the rewards from the risk taken.

During GSP meeting, we’ve wrapped up our presentations and helped all members to learn the national anthem of our island, this GSP experience is so unforgettable and we are confident that our island is the best island! The people from India had a hard time learning the instruments (i.e drum), and through teaching them, we have learnt to be patient and truly understand the inner joy we harvest from teaching others.

The highlight and the last event is entrepreneurs Panel Program. We were more than honored to have the top entrepreneurs talking about their experience of failure, success and perseverance. Some of the students asked good questions and we have broaden our horizon through listening to the Q&As. We have got lots of takeaways from this talk such as it’s  hard to find the perfect timing, so every moment might be perfect. They motivate us to become entrepreneurs.

18 Jul 2019 Group 5

189th July 2019

Our day started with the cultural psychology lesson. After listening to the lecture, we designed our own study to investigate the differences in social interactions between Americans and Chinese while dining. Our hypothesized that Americans tend to communicate more when eating meals while Asians are more likely to remain silent when dining. It was so fun analysing cultures and found out the differences between countries. 

(photo will be uploaded later) 

A picture taken in the psychology lesson 

(photo will be uploaded later) 

We are presenting our self-designed psychology experiment. 

After lunch, we had a lesson on decision making. We learnt more deeply about probability and the chances to get a correct guess of the flip of a coin. Through this workshop, we have learnt how to think before making a decision and try to predict the possibilities to win a game. We loved this workshop and hoped to apply those theories in our daily lives. 

A photo taken in the decision making lesson. 

After yesterday’s Global Solution Program discussion, we finalised our PowerPoint slides and discussed different issues between our subgroups. We learnt that we should cooperate with one another well as different parts were interrelated and team spirit is so important. We tried to go through the whole presentation, but there is too much information which made the script too long. We later shortened the script and distributed the parts evenly. We hope that we can do well in our final GSP presentation!

After dinner, it was finally the highlight of the day, which is the entrepreneurship talk. Stanford had invited four successful and experienced entrepreneurs or highly-skilled staff from technology companies to the lecture hall. They shared their own personal experiences and difficulties in making life choices. We learnt not to give up even during harsh times. Furthermore, good leaders should be open-minded and wise in accepting criticism and judgments, as our ideas could then evolve and improve. So do not be afraid to voice out your ideas, as they are all possibilities and chances to improve! 

A picture taken after the entrepreneurship talk. 

First of all, we had a lesson in neuroanatomy. We have learnt the basic concept of neuroanatomy, and had a much deeper understanding of the human nervous system. The lesson was very interactive and engaging, where we answered and asked a lot of questions actively. Our group like this lesson very much as all of us study science related subjects, and the content of the lesson truly broadened our horizons and boost our knowledge in the biology we learnt this year. 

Then, we had a lesson on fermenting food. It was interesting for us as most of us were not familiar with fermenting food. We have learnt about different examples, advantages and safety precautions of fermenting food. We even did an experiment on alcohol fermentation in a bag! It was so much fun as we did not get a chance to do it at school. 

After that, we had our last global solutions project. We did some final preparations for the presentation on Saturday. We wrapped up our project with a few practices. Now we were much more familiarised with our project. We hoped we can perform well on Saturday. It was a pleasure to work with people from different countries and solve problems on a global scale. 

Last but not least, we had an Entrepreneur panel with a moderate panel of entrepreneurs from the Silicon Valley to share their business start-up experiences with us. We have learnt the key to succeed which included resilience, willing to take risk, to share our ideas to others and never be afraid to fail, many of us have been inspired by them. 

We had a rewarding day with lots of takeaways that we definitely could not learn from school.

fermenting food class

neuroanatomy class

sunset in campus

last global solution project;(

18/7 Group 4

Today was the tenth day of this tour. In the morning, we had the clinical neuroanatomy class which was about the nervous system. We learnt that different part of the brain and their respective functions and responsibilities. The lesson was very informative and interesting (to those who takes biology). Although most of us had very limited knowledge of our brain and nervous system, the teacher used simple words and diagrams to explain to us. We believed that this would be very useful for studying biology in form 4. 

In the afternoon, we had a class on fermenting food. It was very enjoyable and fun and we found out most of our favourite fermented food was yogurt. Our favourite part was the experiment on alcohol fermentation, as we did not have a chance to do this at school due to our packed teaching schedule . At last, the teacher even prepared donuts for us at the end of the lesson. They were very sweet and delicious. 

In the evening, we attended the entrepreneur panel. We thought that the speeches made by the successful entrepreneurs were inspiring as they shared how they had become successful  entrepreneurs in life and encouraged us to try anything with resilience. We should not be afraid to tell others our unique thoughts and always willing to accept constructive feedback. This was a precious opportunity as we seldom have time to have someone to give us useful advice in Hong Kong

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6/18/19 Group3

We had two lessons and two global solution project meetings on the ninth day of the tour.

The first lesson was effective communication Ms Areen Shahbari. We have learnt different skills of persuasion. For example, the six principles of persuasion, the three pillars of persuasion and audience analysis. We tried to integrate these  concepts in our speech presented later on. Through the feedbacks of Ms Areen and our classmates, we understood that we should be more confident and should try to have more emotion interactions with the audience.

The second lesson was cultural psychology. Ms Caitlin Handron explained the differences between different cultures, especially those in the east and west. We learnt that the western countries are usually more active, positive and do things independently, while the eastern ones tend to be more introverted, respectful and like to do things in groups. Lastly, we discussed and conducted a study about the differences of different cultures. We learnt the ways of conducting a study.

At the end of the day, we had two sections of GSP meeting. During the first section, we continued working with our sub-groups. Through the discussion, we found that we need to work more on the immigration issues. We also learnt that cooperation between sub-groups were needed as different aspects are often interrelated.

While during the second meeting, we mainly focused on PowerPoint making. We learnt that time management is important as we will only have 10 minutes to present and we need to use it wisely. We also needed give up some ideas and chose the main points in order to meet the time limit.

Overall speaking, we had a packed schedule today and we were able to learnt a lot of things that we had never come in contact with before. It has been a fulfilling day.

We learnt a lot during the effective communication class.

We had a great time during the cultural psychology class.