Alumni Gatherings in Panama and China
Recently, World Learning asked the Alumni Class Secretaries from 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 to organize a meet and greet with their fellow Global UGRADs in their home countries. Global UGRAD alumni in Panama and China were able to gather discussing their experiences with the Global UGRAD, current adventures, and future plans. Once a UGRAD – Always a UGRAD!
Alumni Gathering in Panama written by Itmareli Rodriguez
“It’s a pleasure to inform you that on Saturday, October 20th, the 2017-18 Global UGRADs got reunited. We planned to eat dinner together and talk about our experience in United States. We spent an afternoon together, making a throw back in time will all the memories and things that the Global UGRAD experience left us.”
“We are all scattered in various places in China. Some of us live in the north, while the others live in the south. With the coordination of Sonya, 2016-2017 Class Secretary, the Global UGRADs from 2016-2018 “gathered” and chatted on October 7th via a video call.
We began with brief self-introductions followed by sharing thoughts or comments about the time spent in the U.S. as well as plans in the future. Five or six among us are either pursuing their master’s degree or seriously considering to apply for graduate school. The rest of us are working before deciding whether to go back to school.
Shuodong furthers his career as an instructional designer at Accenture and part-time trainer at Weland International, which require him to stay in the U.S. for a month each year. Ziyuan shared her thoughts about the time spent in the U.S. The first couple weeks witnessed her feeling of helplessness without any idea of how to settle down and get along with others. “It was not a program purely for fun. In most of my time, I was required to figure out the solution for challenges, following by one after another, which motivated me to engage with people from diversified backgrounds, collaborate, and to deal with the cultural difference in the American context independently.” Sonya, as a student majoring in English literature, was thrilled to deeply engage with the English-speaking local community and also those people via volunteering, not just relying on textbooks, drama or TV shows. Since then, Sonya has been aware of volunteering in China and ready to take some action in her community soon.
Many of us feel grateful for all the staff of World Learning for taking care of each of us and your passion and enthusiasm has inspired us ever since.”