In Her Own Words: The Passages Experience
Chen Can recently participated in our summer leadership development program, Passages. She so aptly articulates our aim at Ascend: growing the next generation of leader through relationships (if you are English speaker, cut and paste into google translate for a fairly good translation of her account). 交流学习心得体会和项目评价： 在美国北卡罗来纳州的一个月的交流实习生活是充实而愉悦的。 节假日与每晚的时间我几乎都是与Schneider家庭一起度过的，通过与寄宿家庭的良好互动，我不仅深入体验了美国家庭的餐桌礼仪、基督文化，了解了美国的潮流艺术、历史由来，也结认识了很多热情好客的美国朋友，相应地，我也给他们带去了我精心准备的中国风礼品，让他们了解了中国的文化风俗，更重要的是我也为他们带来了欢声笑语。这种氛围是和谐而融洽的，所以在结束这段旅程之前，我送给了他们我书写的一幅书法作品——“海内存知己，天涯若比邻”，这也正是我内心感受的真实写照。 考虑到专业需求，我选择参与的项目是美国环境保护署（USEPA）实习项目，所以每到工作日我都会去USEPA(RTP)实习，在这里要感谢Ascend International的Mr.Guy、Mr.Ricky、Mrs.Jan每日安排不同的寄宿家庭接送我往返以提供出行的便利。在每日从住所到USEPA(RTP)的半小时车程中，我也通过与负责接送的当地人的沟通了解了不同美国家庭的传统文化和美国人对于政府管理、环境保护、科技发展的不同态度，这拓宽了我对于本专业和职业发展的既定认识，甚至让我重新审视了自己的职业规划，也为USEPA的实习做了铺垫。谈到在USEPA（RTP）的实习生活，我觉得它是紧张而快乐的，每日工作时间是从每天9点到下午4点，我在Dr. Mark Strynar的实验室跟随他和他的博士后Dr. James McCord进行了土壤样品的前处理和样品中新型PFC（全氟化合物）的LC-TOFMS（液相色谱-飞行时间质谱）筛查分析和Orbitrap.. read more →
A First Lesson to Aspiring Leaders: Follow Well
It’s your choice: you can be a cursing or a blessing to those who lead you. Whether your leader is an employer, coach, teacher or team leader, you can be a follower who brings joy to your leader or one they wish wasn’t on the team. The writer of this passage from the Bible said.. read more →
A Mother’s Love- shared with the Nations
Each winter and summer, students from China come to the USA as part of our Passages’ program. Without count, approximately 100 American Moms (and Dads, of course:)) have opened their home to these guests, inviting foreign, young adults into their homes and treating them as their own. Students generally come on the program for the.. read more →
Fighting- It Is What So Many Chinese Do
When a Chinese friend is struggling or needs a little encouragement, often another Chinese friend will come along and either say “fighting” or put a well-placed emoticon of an arm flexing to symbolize and encourage the same thing: “keep fighting.”I wondered where this came from. My Chinese friend told me it actually originated in Korea,.. read more →
What Turned Dr. David Banner into the Hulk Might Also be Affecting You! EQ #13 Stress Tolerance
At least 210 passengers died in the recent South Korean Ferry disaster. The disaster seems to have revealed widespread corruption in the ferry industry. No doubt a number of people will be held culpable for the tragedy. But, what happened at the time of the tragedy? Personally, I don’t believe the crew of the ferry.. read more →
Special Student Leadership Event in Nanjing, China (April 12)
My partners in Nanjing and I have been doing a student leadership event in Nanjing twice each year since 2008. It has been a great way to help develop student leaders while also facilitating relationships between American professionals on “voluntouring” trips and these fine students. If you are a student in Nanjing, please apply. If.. read more →
Welcome to Ascend International
Welcome to Ascend International! It is exciting to embark on the adventure of starting a company that has the potential to change lives for the better. As I have traveled to more than thirty countries and interacted with the next generation of leaders in these countries, I have been both encouraged and motivated. I am encouraged because.. read more →