5 . With increasing information through technology, our students are becoming less active and do not develop relationships with self, others and the environment. Outdoor Education does not only promote physical development in students but it also focuses on each of their personal, social and self-awareness development.

That is what the Outdoor Education Programme (OEP) at Marymount Convent School aims to do. The most interesting part of Marymount’s OEP is the adventure camp that helps students to grow in determination and courage as they deal with challenges. The adventure camp provides an opportunity for the students to learn more about basic survival skills, respect and responsibility for self, others and environmental awareness.

For the energetic ones, like Sofia-Jane Wong Enqi, the activities in OEP are a dream come true. She loves activities such as hiking and team-building activities. During hiking, the primary 6 student learnt the value of cooperation (合作) instead of competition. She discovered how easy it was for her and her teammates to complete challenges when people were not fighting to take the lead but instead stopping and listening to each other.

Another primary 6 student, Mithra Anandan, got an even greater benefit while hiking. She had never been very interested in physical activities but as she joined her friends on a hike, she learnt to continue despite having to stop for breaks. Working hard to reach the end of the hike taught her the value of adaptation even if others can go farther or faster. It is not about a race; it is about completing and enjoying a journey.

Their parents also observed clear improvements in their children’s self-management and responsibility. “My parents praised me for my positive change in character and of course, I had burnt a good amount of calories!” says Mithra laughingly. Sofia-Jane adds: “Days after I returned from the camp, my mom said that I became more independent, cleaning up after my meals and doing my homework without being reminded.”

6 . 2023 UAiTED Creation Competition

The 2023 UAiTED Creation Competition is designed to make full use of high-tech creation to improve ideas and solutions for problems related to global development.

In this competition, students will need to identify any existing problems of the selected theme and think out solutions. There will be 2 rounds of judging — the preliminary (初步的) and final. All the finalists will have a chance to win the UAiTED Fellowship Award.

•Challenge#1: Home and Social Care for the Aging Communities

•Challenge#2: Domestic Waste Handling for Large City Communities

Participants (参加者) must be registered students at any of the UAiTED partner universities on the date of entry (参赛作品) into the competition.

Stage One: Individual Registration (March 15, 2023-March 29, 2023)

1. All participants must register through the UAiTED official website no later than the 29th of March 2023.

2. Entries must be handed in in English and can only be handed in via the UAiTED website.

Stage Two: Team Registration (April 1, 2023-April 16, 2023)

1. Only individuals that have completed Stage 1 registration are able to hand in team registration.

2. Participants will be added to a Facebook group to form teams after Stage l registration.

3. All teams must register via the UAiTED official website no later than the 16th of April 2023.

4. Only one representative of the team will need to hand in the team registration.

4-6 students per team. No pre-team formation is required.

7 . ACL 500 Word Story Competition

We are pleased to announce the launch of the ACL 500 Word Story Competition. This time the theme is “Awakening”. We’re looking for our community to pen a story that quickly catches our attention and tells a great tale. You can submit (提交) an entry as an individual achievement or as a team effort — we want to read both kinds! Our judges will include a range of our experienced instructors, staff and local Essex Author Sarah Armstrong.

Sarah Armstrong is the author of three novels, most recently The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt and The Starlings of Bucharest, the first and second in the Moscow Wolves series. She is also the author of A Summer of Spying, a book mainly about her own experience. Sarah teaches undergraduate and postgraduate creative writing with The Open University, and lives in Essex with her husband and four children.

9 . Torsongan Bullik is a 28-year-old cross-country skier. When he was a freshman in junior high school in 2009, he excelled at long-distance running. As an amateur in 2016, he finished third in the Xinjiang Wusu International Marathon. And then a passion for cycling revealed itself as his hometown hosted the Tour of Sayram Lake, a national road race for amateur cyclists.

“The high-spirited cyclists, their flashy costumes and helmets fascinated me,” he recalls. “I felt that cycling was really cool.”

In 2012, Torsongan’s father gave him a mountain bike that cost 5,000 yuan ($695), which was a lot of money for his family. He loved the bicycle so much that he used it at every opportunity. Two years later, he entered his first competition, although there was no fairy-tale ending as he lost his balance on a steep slope. But he was determined and kept testing his limits. This paid off as he has won medals at all levels of the sport in China.

On Oct 18, 2018, Torsongan was the first to cross the finish line during a high-altitude bike race in the Xizang autonomous region. But surprisingly, it was the national cross-country skiing team that he impressed with his endurance (耐力). They were in search of new talented athletes for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Accepting the invitation from the team marked a turning point for Torsongan’s career, but challenges remained. “After training with the team during the day, I had to go to the gym to level up my upper-body strength in the evening,” Torsongan said in an earlier interview.

He didn’t make the final list, but worked as a technician assisting (帮助) in the operations of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Regardless of the outcome of the 14th National Winter Games, Torsongan enjoyed the challenge of competing, and has his eyes set on the next race.

“I will continue with my efforts. As long as I don’t give up, I still have a chance to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics,” he says.