Youth Mentors

Our youth mentors are comprised of former China Prep staff members and program speakers.  They are available to provide advice to current and former trip participants about traveling, living, and working in China.

Originally from Maryland, Samm's first exposure to China began in the ninth grade, as a student of Chinese at the Sidwell Friends School, in Washington, DC. Her language studies led her to focus on modern Chinese literature at Brown University, where she translated autobiographical essays by two modern Chinese authors dealing with their experiences during the Cultural Revolution as her honors thesis. After graduating, Samm won a Fulbright award to research rights consciousness among migrant workers in China's informal service sector. With experience doing fieldwork on migration, labor, and the role of China's civil society in advocating for policy reform, she returned to New York as a researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Her primary work at CFR involved research on national security and U.S.-China Relations.

When the air quality in China is not too bad, Samm also loves to run through Beijing¹s hutong neighborhoods. She has completed two marathons: Sugarloaf, ME and Big Sur, CA. She also enjoys wandering the streets in China with her sketchbook.

Samm graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in Literary Translation (Chinese) from Brown University. She received a certificate from Princeton in Beijing's language immersion program. Starting in September 2007, she will begin a Master¹s program at Yale in International Relations with a concentration in International Security Studies.

http://www.askasia.org/students/features/china/samm.html

Originally from Massachusetts, Sara's first exposure to China began in the tenth grade, as a student of Chinese at Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA. She continued studying China and Chinese as an undergraduate at Tufts University, and studied abroad during her junior year at Hangzhou's Zhejiang University. Following her graduation from Tufts, she attended the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China. Sara has worked in the non-profit, non-governmental sector in both China in the United States. Most recently she worked as a Communications and Philanthropy Assistant at The Nature Conservancy China Program in Yunnan Province. During her free time, she enjoys honing her Chinese tea ceremony skills, painting, and taking photos.

Sara graduated with a B.A. in International Letters and Visual Studies from Tufts University, and completed a graduate program in Chinese Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies.

Originally from Connecticut, Adina has been traveling the world since she was eighteen. She first lived in China as a college student while studying abroad at Shanghai’s Fudan University in 2002. It was then that she did her first field research in China, investigating the treatment of migrants in Shanghai’s household registration system. As a freelance researcher and writer, Adina continues to focus on social issues in China. She has authored articles on China’s rural countryside and cross-cultural volunteering for various US publications and many of China Prep’s historical background and modern context pieces. In 2005-2006 she was a Fulbright scholar in China, researching non-governmental participation in rural China’s social development. Previously she worked in the non-profit, non- governmental sector in the United States.

Adina graduated summa cum laude from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2003, where she concentrated on Chinese culture, communications and human rights.

http://askasia.org/students/features/china/adina.html

Diana grew up in a Chinese restaurant in Valdosta, Georgia, surrounded by her native kejia dialect and scrumptious Chinese delights. Despite repeated attempts to learn ³kitchen Chinese,² as she affectionately dubs her father¹s early Mandarin lessons, she finally succumbed to the struggle and really delved into her Asian heritage as an East Asian Studies major at Yale University. At Yale, Diana studied Mandarin and went to China for the first time as a student with Princeton in Beijing. She was also involved in the Chinese American Student Association and was an officer for the Phoenix Dance Troupe, a group specializing in Chinese dance.

After graduating cum laude from Yale, Diana received the Yale-China Teaching Fellowship and taught in English at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China for two years. During her two years there, Diana wrote for That¹s Guangzhou magazine, learned some Cantonese, and polished her Mandarin.

Upon her return to the States, Diana received a Master's degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Education where she studied International Education Policy. Prior to joining China Prep She worked for several years in the non-profit sector and continues to be engaged with all things Chinese.

Originally from New York, Joshua has placed much of his past focus on India. While living there in 2006, he worked in micro-finance, media development, and documentary film. Joshua¹s relationship with China actually surfaced during this time. While in a small village, speaking with local women entrepreneurs, Joshua was asked numerous questions about the nature of China¹s economic rise, and how it differed from India. The interest of these women and the general lack of knowledge in India of China led Joshua to question the relationship between India, China, and the United States, and the cross-cultural links that inevitably emerge. After returning to the States, Joshua¹s attention turned significantly to China. Despite not having any language skills or experience with the country, he decided to move to China. Currently living in Beijing, Joshua has been captivated by the country and continually motivated to improve his written and spoken Mandarin.

Joshua graduated with High Honors from Wesleyan University, Connecticut, with a B.A. in American Studies, and a focus in Asian-American Studies. He is currently pursuing a certificate in language immersion at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing.