Shanghai United International School, Gubei Campus presented their second SUIS GB Speaks lecture series on September 14.
Hosted by Justin (G11), the evening kicked off with a moving erhu duet from Yoyo (G8) and Coco (G10) followed by an insightful talk on the future of education from our very own VP, Kevin Dumble. Tying into his talk was our youngest speaker of the evening, Ashling (G7), who spoke of the skills necessary for success in the future and what education can do to cultivate them. The evening took a more interactive turn as Zovi Weng, co-founder of local Shanghai comic magazine “Shaving in the Dark,” delivered a creative workshop on how to draw a compelling narrative.
Making her debut appearance was VP Jenny Chen who spoke of her own experiences growing up in Shanghai. She finished her talk with by saying how “Shanghai is no small concept,” and that her “explorations will continue,” a sentiment that many of us can relate to living in such an expansive city. The talks continued on to Zhuonan Zhao who engaged audience members with her talk on cultivating innovation and entrepreneurship in children and her vision of how education and technology can bridge the gap between what education is today and what it could be in the future.
Nisthula (G11) touched upon her experiences with social work and how we can commit to being more charitable in our own lives, which set the stage for the talk presented by Nadav Ben Simon, GM of Taicang Inclusion Factory. His heart warming success stories of those who he has come across during his work at Inclusion Factory truly humbled the audience.
Before the final speech of the night, SUIS GB staff members Ashley Wang and Haven Lin alongsideJ erry (G8), Vincent (G8), Robin (G11), and Dora (G12) set the tone with an explosive performance that combined music, oration, and multimedia. A truly innovative experience, the teachers and students used a Tang Dynasty poem as the base for the performance that seamlessly merged beat boxing and rock rhythms to underline the thunderous power in Ashley Wang’s voice.
The evening culminated in the keynote speech from Justinian Huang. With humour and poignancy, he touched upon stories from his upbringing in Los Angeles and how as a budding young scientist he “came out as a creative” to his parents and started as a runner at Paramount. Justinian now works as the Head of Development at Pearl Studio, which co-produced the global blockbuster “Kung Fu Panda 3.” Speaking to his role as a creative who bridges the gap between the East and West, Justinian inspired audience members with his call to action for us to take the driver’s seat in this “era of creativity.” He closed by imparting his vision for the future of China as a creative powerhouse in its own right.
On the 13th of April, we proudly present our inaugural SUIS SPEAKS event, where a number of students, teachers, parents and members of our community will present their ideas, based around the theme of “West meets East”, where contributors will present case studies and narratives of how the voice of the East is driving and shaping innovation in the West.
Gubei Campus Bernard Wun said in his speech on “Contemporary Chinese Art Appreciation “：”Whether offended or curiously intrigued by these artworks, they have all served a single purpose — to generate discussion about the art. And while these last few works were all created by Western artists, I would like to drive my point that Chinese contemporary artists and their ability to shock Western audiences to the point that their work is removed is indicative of the power of Chinese contemporary art. “——
“typhoon is coming” for the ever growing Chinese modern art scene in the world. How even though it is very controversial to some people, it is receiving lots of acknowledgement around the world.
Many heartfelt thanks to all of the presenters for sharing their insights that evening.