Socially Conscious Schools: Students Give Back

By Misty Sloane

Shanghai’s charitably-minded international student population has a bright future. Most of the curricula around town incorporate charitable or environmentally-friendly initiatives into their classrooms.

Concordia International School Shanghai

In keeping with the Christian values the school was founded upon, Concordia integrates service throughout their school and curriculum. One of the school’s core projects is Yunnan Education Project (YEP). The project was founded in 2002 by three of the school’s students when they travelled to the province on a service project. In addition to being a worthy charity, YEP also provides opportunities for students to perform off-site volunteer work and see the results of their efforts firsthand. This month, Concordia will send another five teams of high school students through YEP-related courses.

Concordia also strongly emphasises green initiatives, with their green design being the first step in helping them reduce their carbon footprint and increase energy efficiency. They have installed a clean energy system that conserves water and reduces fossil fuel usage using ground-source heat-exchange technology. In addition, the campus also boasts three green roofs and a two-storey exterior green wall. Interior bamboo veneers around the building and natural lighting also contribute to the sustainable campus, and the school installed a wind turbine on the roof of the high school over summer break.

Shanghai Community International School

Kids helping kids is their motto and that is what the Lower School students of SCIS Pudong are doing as they work towards providing educational opportunities for children living in the mountain villages of rural China. The SCIS Pudong Lower School student council is working with Maitian, an NGO, to provide an opportunity for children living in the poor mountain areas of rural China. Currently, the students of SCIS Pudong are raising RMB 60,000 to help Maitian build their 14th school for underprivileged students.

While SCIS has a variety of environmentally-friendly initiatives, from green market days to organic gardens and walkathons, all the sustainable energy came together this year for Earth Day. On 22 April, the school hosted their third annual Million Tree Earth Day Concert. The school received two awards from Jane Goodall earlier in the year for their support of The Million Tree Project.