Stories of Impact from the Huatung English Camp - Lives Changing Lives
"The Huatung (Hualien-Taitung) English Camp has not only enriched my personal life, but strengthened my professional pursuit.” – Debra Lin, Founder/CEO of BigByte Education and Advisor of Huatung English Camp
On 3rd March, ACF brought together volunteers from 2010 to 2017 Huatung English Camp. Several volunteer alumni took interest in education issues after the camp – from teaching at Teach for Taiwan, to becoming tutors or joining voluntary welfare organizations helping rural children, reaching ACF’s greater vision to reverse destinies of rural children and improving social mobility.
On 3rd March, ACF brought together volunteers from 2010 to 2017 Huatung English Camp. Several volunteer alumni took interest in education issues after the camp – from teaching at Teach for Taiwan, to becoming tutors or joining voluntary welfare organizations helping rural children, reaching ACF’s greater vision to reverse destinies of rural children and improving social mobility.
In the nine years of the Huatung English Camp, it has served 1,440 students from across Huatung and brought together over 300 local and overseas volunteers. The camp underwent different transformations over the years. In 2010, ACF partnered the University of California, San Diego’s English Through Academics, Athletics, and Arts Abroad (ETA4) group and doctors-to-be from the Taiwan Medical Educators for Humanities holding the first Huatung English Camp in Taitung. From 2011 onwards, ACF partnered Taipei American School’s (TAS) Heart to Heart International Service Group (H2H) where TAS students and parents served as volunteers alongside students from Taiwan’s tertiary institutions. The camp was held at Junyi School of Innovation (Junyi) for the first time, with curriculum and materials developed by H2H, with after-school programs developed by tertiary student volunteers, and volunteer recruitment and framework by ACF. The camp was then adjusted to benefit those from fifth to eighth grades as a 11-day, 10-night sleep-away camp. In 2012, ACF Advisor Debra Lin introduced defining features such as the Reading Program, Buddy System and Language Olympics.
In addition to Debra’s advisory role, she initiated internship opportunities for camp volunteers at the BigByte Education; one example is Judy Lee, a 5-year volunteer of the English camp, now Dean of Academic Affairs at one of BigByte Education’s branch school.
Gayle Tsien, volunteer parent of H2H saw the English camp as an operational program which can benefit rural education anywhere and mooted the equivalent of the Huatung English Camp in Vietnam in 2015. Dubbed the Saigon South English Camp, it partners the Lawrence S. Ting Memorial School, South Saigon International School and Lawrence S. Ting Memorial Fund. The Saigon South English Camp is a 14-day camp, led by former H2H team leaders of the Huatung English Camp – Philip Tsien, Andrew Chow, Birthe Ong and Justin Hsu. Since 2015, they continue to lead 30 Vietnam-based international high school student volunteers each year to the remote area Nhà Bè. The camp is held for 160 students in three to four schools there. Though the school buildings often faced power cuts and are without air-condition or glass windows, the volunteers continue to return year-to-year. The camp also received the attention of Vietnam’s education ministry who observed the country’s first English camp with high school volunteers, hoping to expand it for more to witness using lives to change lives.
Junyi student, Wen-chun Chen (Puyuma tribe), who before attending the school was a camper of the English camp, has recently been qualified for Pearson College United World College (UWC) in Victoria, Canada. She will be headed there come fall. After her positive experience at the English camp, she returned the following year as a camp volunteer and aspired to enroll in Junyi. Relentless, independent and responsible, she shared her story on social media about being clear of her objective to create her own destiny.
Fish Tung (Amis tribe), former volunteer of the English camp, now teaches at Junyi. Before her career at Junyi, she was the second selected candidate for ACF’s Asian Executive Management Program at the Brigham Young University-Hawaii. Her student, Yu-long Chou (Bunun tribe), who was a 2011 Huatung English Camp camper is among Junyi’s pioneer batch of graduates. Last summer, Yu-long was selected, out of 200 applicants, to join an 11-day indigenous youth cultural exchange in Australia and New Zealand. He aspires to be a social worker with international perspectives.
Participants of the English camp exemplified what it means to impact and change lives with lives. To ACF Chair Stanley Yen, the English camp is a starting point to internationalize Taiwan. He hopes that the participants will sow the for the seeds of warmth and growth in many corners of their own lives.
2014 Pre-Camp Video for Huatung English Camp
2014 Huatung English Camp
About Volunteering for Huatung English Camp
2014 Huatung English Camp
About Volunteering for Huatung English Camp
