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WALLINGFORD — TedxChoate recently kicked off Choate Rosemary Hall’s inaugural celebration of International Education Week with an exhibit featuring Chinese artist Zhimi Li.
Yoyo Zhang, a junior at Choate Rosemary Hall, was the main organizer of the event and said she wanted to add a new element to the school’s Tedx event. Choate’s Tedx program is a student organization that sets up public speaking events.
“This year we wanted to expand it to more different aspects of student life,” Zhang said
Through a family connection, Zhang arranged for Li to come to Choe for a panel discussion and art exhibition. Zhang began planning the event in August, before school started.
Colleen Kazar, assistant director of student activities at Choate, works closely with student clubs, organizations and committees to plan events.
“I’ve been working on this project with Yoyo for over a month now,” says Kazar. “He brought this idea to my office in hopes of sharing a variety of artworks that expose our community to traditional Chinese culture. I think this is a wonderful opportunity for our students, faculty and staff to experience an exhibition that combines the arts and global education, and it comes at a perfect time as Choate hosts its inaugural International Education Week.”
The exhibition runs for International Education Week, Oct. 15-Oct. 22, in the school’s PMAC Gallery. A reception and panel discussion was held on October 15. The events were open only to Choate students, faculty and staff.
Li is an artist best known for ink painting and has a collection of various paintings and illustrations for picture books, such as “Zhou Zuoren’s Works Series” and “The Book of Song.”
Zhang said the overall theme of the exhibition was to bring Chinese traditional elements into contemporary art.
“I personally felt very attracted to this kind of art that is able to express many cultural elements and this event can be the start of International Education Week in Choe,” said Zhang.
International Education Week is a national celebration that is a joint initiative between the US State Department and the US Department of Education.
“The point of the week is to celebrate the cultures that our students come from and recognize that they come from all over the world and really celebrate that and the contributions they make to campus and help all students on campus learn about the surrounding areas. world,” said Ashley Sinclair, director of global engagement at Choate
Throughout the week, there were activities and events such as dances, field trips, movies, cooking demonstrations and more. There is some programming going on throughout the week. This includes a library guide put together by the library team that features book, podcast and movie recommendations.
“We didn’t tell the students or the colleagues what kind of event they had to do,” Sinclair said. “We just said, ‘If you want to put something forward, you tell me what you want us to celebrate and what you want to highlight about your particular country and culture.'”
Choate’s caterer participated in International Education Week by creating a new menu for lunch each day, Sinclair said.
“So we’re going to have different rice and noodles from around the world, there’s going to be soups and stews, we’re going to have comfort food,” Sinclair said. “Everyone’s having fun.”
Through events throughout the week, Sinclair said she hopes students will try new things and get to know other students they’ve never met before.
“I really want them to try something because maybe that will instill some bravery and courage and a desire to be able to reach out to students to keep trying new things and learning about others,” Sinclair said.
However, Sinclair said learning about other cultures and countries doesn’t stop after International Education Week ends.
“It’s really meant to be a starting point,” Sinclair said. “Let’s encourage our students to learn about each other and learn about backgrounds different from our own and continue those conversations and those experiences throughout the year.”
[email protected] Twitter: @jessica_simms99
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