【推荐3】Student Christine Ngo Souhe convinced funders to award her £1,000 to run African dance classes for youngsters in Southampton, UK, because she was worried they were growing up not knowing rough about their heritage.

The 21-year-old, who studies at Richard Taunton Sixth Form College in the city, impressed Energise Me, an organization that supports young people to make creative changes in their communities, with her pians for the classes.

Christine, whose family is from Cameroon, wanted to pass on her love of traditional African dance to youngsters from the ethnic communities near where she lives. She came up with the idea of Cultural Kidz, a weekly Afrobeat dance class using traditional steps, at St Mary’s Primary School for youngsters aged eight and nine and was awarded the money to set it up. “I just wanted to create something where kids could learn something about their and someone else’s culture. It’s important because if you don’t know about the place where you come from you don’t understand the culture and you don’t 1earn to respect it,” she said.

The first class ended their term with a presentation for their parents. “It was such a beautiful moment seeing them all come together wearing traditional clothing and seeing the smiles on their parents’ faces,” said Christine. This term’s class attracts over 50 young dancers every Thursday. Christine said she has had great support from her college.

The money was awarded through Energise Me’s The Agency, a creative program that encourages young people to make social changes. Assistant facilitator Megan Smith said:" Christine is always in good spirits and that’s what has made her a good teacher.”

Richard Taunton president Paul Swindale said the student’s passion bas touched them.“ We’re very proud of Christine and her determination to share her love of dance with young people. We are a diverse college that promotes respect for all cultures and it is so heart-warming to see Christine take that a step further with this project.”

【推荐2】Finally, in March of 1703, the Adventure set sail for India. The winds were good until we got near Madagascar, an island off the east coast of Africa. Then a strong wind began to blow. We were trapped in the wind for twenty days. After many hours, the wind finally stopped and the sea became quieter. The storm had blown the Adventure hundreds of kilometers to the east.

“Where are we?” I asked the captain.

“I can’t tell for sure.” He said, “we are running out of water. We must reach land soon to fill our water barrels (桶).” Many days passed and we saw nothing but the sea. One morning, before everyone died of thirst, a sailor cried out, “Land!” Everyone on the ship was silent for a second. And quickly the ship sailed closer to the land. The sailors suddenly became turnultuous and all cheered.

“You men,” said the captain to the sailors, “take the rowboats and go. Fill the water barrels with fresh water.”

“Captain,” I said, “may I go with them to take a look at this place?”

“Of course,” he replied. “You can tell me later what it is like.”

When the rowboats reached the coast, one of the sailors said, “we will have to walk along the coast to look for fresh water.”

“I’m going to take a little walk,” I told them. “I will meet you back here in an hour.”

I walked about a kilometer, enjoying being on land again. Then I turned and walked back to meet the sailors.

When I arrived on the beach, the sailors were not there. They were in the rowboats, rowing as fast as they could toward the Adventure. I was going to shout out to them when I saw a very huge man walking through the sea. I was trying to catch up with the rowboats. The sailors were almost at the ship, and I could see that the huge man would not be able to catch them. Instead, it was coming towards me. Great fear went through my mind.

【推荐3】Bianca Brown, a junior at Springfield High School, had always enjoyed arts and crafts (工艺) as a child. So, when her busy schedule was crossed out by COVID-19, Bianca looked to her past to design her future.

She ordered ingredients (材料) and mixed them together to create soaps of different shapes and other personal care products. “I really could start a business doing this,” she thought.

Thus, Bianca created Simply B. LLC, a beauty brand (品牌) selling personal care products to friends and family at first. Through the use of the social media app, TikTok, Bianca was able to reach thousands of customers.

“I woke up to 50 orders the next day after my first video spread on the Internet,” she said. “It’s unbelievable. I don’ t even know how I really got all that done, to be honest with you.”

Bianca is among the busiest at her high school. She plays volleyball, runs track and field, and recently started a Black student union. She is a member of the community service club and is also a part of the National Honor Society. With her high marks, it’s clear that none of her academic (学业的) responsibilities take a back seat to her small business. But still, Bianca succeeds as both a student and businesswoman.

Bianca hopes to continue building her brand in the future and possibly help other children follow their dreams. “I really want to influence other kids and show them how to be young businessmen or businesswomen and feel that someone could be encouraged by me,” she said.

【推荐1】When Patricia went on holiday in Spain, she had no idea what would happen. She had just graduated from a nursing school. To celebrate her graduation, she and her nursing school friends went to Spain in hopes of relaxing before beginning their busy lives as nurses.

On the first day, the three girls were having a bit of lunch. As her friends stayed at the table, Patricia decided she would head to the pool to read some books. As she was lying there, deep in her book, she heard a sudden noise.

A young girl was telling a man in a chair something in another language. All of a sudden, the man jumped out of his chair and called out in English: “A boy is drowning (溺水)! Someone help!” The man then ran to the pool and pulled out a young child from the water. He wasn’t moving.

At first, Patricia didn’t do anything. “Surely there was someone more experienced than me to help this child,” she thought. She looked around and saw that no one was coming to the rescue. It had to be her.

Patricia threw down her book and ran to the child. She pushed the man aside and calmly said, “I’m a nurse.” At the moment, she felt that the words were true. She began administering CPR (实施心肺复苏术)．After a few minutes of this, the boy coughed and spat (吐) up the water. As the boy sat up, his parents were finally here and Patricia left quietly, happy to allow the boy to be with his family again.

After that shocking event, Patricia finally understood that nursing was certainly what she wanted to do.

【推荐3】Bondi, a British singer, songwriter and pianist has become an ambassador(大使)for the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. That’s because he hopes to build more musical bridges with his audience in China. “I can’t wait to visit China, experience the culture and hopefully make music with the artists there,” says Bondi.

The musician has already composed for and performed with many international stars. But working with a Chinese artist is still on top of his wish list. “This means the world to me,” he says. “I went to see Lang Lang when I was very young in my hometown. He’s one of the greatest pianists of all time, and he’s such a big inspiration to me.”

The foundation’s international ambassadors are a group of people who offer free music education to young people around the world. “Their task is to organize workshops to guide young kids. It’s just such a beautiful organization, and I’m so proud to be part of it,” Bondi says.

Lucas, the foundation’s CEO, comments that “music education is the perfect instrument to bring young Chinese and Western artists together and create lasting connections”. “Our young talents’ program offers both Chinese and non-Chinese kids the opportunity to learn from Lang Lang himself and from instructors and upcoming stars like Bondi,” he says.

Using his modern, humorous jazz skills and sweet, inspiring voice, Bondi has taken on the task to build bridges between different cultures and musical types. “My dream is to bring joy and love to people through music. I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world for the past 10 years,” Bondi says.