明日之光的学生参加夏季国际领袖培训班

2020年11月，美中下一代基金会明日之光公益奖平台正式成立并得到华人社区的积极响应。平台的职责之一是传播各个团队的事迹和经验，共大家学习，交流和参考。

明日之光First Step团队的发起人兼负责人Annie Lin今年夏天参加了一个竞争力很强的国际领袖培训班（Rising Sun international summer program in leadership）。这篇文章的主要内容是培训班的Helene Mattera, Executive Director专门为Annie写的新闻发布稿。来自美国和其它25个国家共60位高中女生被选拔入营并授以全额奖学金，新闻稿对这个项目有比较详细的介绍。Annie和家人认为她今年能获此殊荣，除了自己的努力之外，与明日之光平台的大力支持分不开。他们希望将此经历和大家分享，让更多的华裔学生和家长都能了解这个项目并积极参与。

Local Student Participates in International Leadership Program

The Louis August Jonas Foundation is pleased to report that Annie Lin has successfully completed the highly selective and demanding 4-week Rising Sun international summer program in leadership.  Established in 1930 and in operation for over 80 years, the Rising Sun program develops in promising teenagers, ages 14-18 from around the globe, a commitment to making positive contributions to their communities and the world through compassionate, responsible leadership, intellectual and artistic growth, valuing diversity and developing a spirit of giving.

The Louis August Jonas Foundation selects up to 60 teenagers each season to attend a summer program with full scholarship in Rhinebeck, New York. Students assume positions of leadership each day and, with some guidance from a member of the staff, run the daily operations.  Students determine the schedule, assign work responsibilities, oversee the activities, account for the whereabouts of all participants at all times, respond to unplanned occurrences, and develop special events.

A typical day includes student and staff led instructions, campus improvement projects, an evening program, and self-structured activities during which students may participate in athletics, practice music, play chess, read, write in their journals, continue their work on an instruction or project or develop an idea for an evening program.  In addition to the typical activities, the students publish a journalism project, participate in performing arts activities, experience an overnight hike away from campus, create in the visual arts, and participate in traditional program celebrations.

Among the highlights of this program is the opportunity of coming to know teenagers from all over the United States and more than 25 different nations of the world. Program activities are designed to maximize the opportunity for participants to get to know one another.  As remarkable as their cultural, experiential and geographical differences are, even more striking is the similarities of their family values, love of learning and adolescent explorations of that which makes life meaningful.

Alumni from the decades of our program’s existence report that they learn at Rising Sun that they are capable of implementing their ideas and making a difference in their communities and in the world, where they become compassionate leaders.  They value the connections they make with their fellow program participants and form friendships that endure for decades.

The program staff reported that Annie Lin was a stellar program participant, who we predict will take the lessons from the Rising Sun program and have an impact in school, college and beyond as a thinker, a leader and an agent of positive change.

Annie Lin 经过严格选拔，进入了这个她期待的暑期夏令营。

Annie hopes to learn how to be a better leader and role model. She is excited to apply what she learns this summer to the leadership of her community service team, First Step。