Trip to China Amazing for Huntington Students

With memories of their 12-day summertime trip to China eternally etched in their minds, a group of Huntington High School students plan to share their personal connections and experiences with classmates, families and teachers and anyone else interested in hearing about the “profound trip” during the coming weeks.

The 11 Huntington students (including one recent graduate) spent their first six days in China with home-stays and summer classes and workshops at Tianjin No. 1 High School. The student ambassadors spent a considerable amount of time with their respective host families, who provided guidance, shared meals, transportation and ultimately friendships in true Chinese fashion.

As each new day unfolded in Tianjin, the Huntington travelers, along with their respective host peer, traveled by subway, car or bicycle to school. Over the weekend period the entire group went by bus to a variety of sites for experiential learning opportunities.

“Examples of these experiential visits included a visit to the Tianjin Museum, exploration of the Xia ancient family courtyard, as well as touring and learning about the famed Liberation Bridge and haggling for good deals at the famed Ancient Market Street,” said Joseph Leavy, Huntington’s chairperson of humanities, who chaperoned the trip along with social studies department colleague Jordan Gould. 

The time in Tianjin reached its climax when the 11 New Yorkers, along with the Tianjin students, cooperated in a personal sharing of views on deep questions, followed by an international deliberative forum on the question of “dealing with the negatives of the modern age on parent-child relationships as it affects us and our societies.” 

“They did not just discuss and leave it at that,” Mr. Leavy said. “Having recognized and named the issue in its Chinese and American context, the students mutually agreed on the nature of the problem, recognizing how it transcends national and cultural differences.”

Later in smaller groups, the Chinese and American students framed the issue and after reflective deliberation, characterized by attentive listening and expression of a strong command of English by the Chinese, the friends ultimately provided a viable solution. “In so doing they found common ground, through this grassroots experiment in democracy and choice work,” Mr. Leavy said. “Perhaps their solution could reach the ears of leaders in both the Chinese and U.S. governments.”  

Mr. Leavy said he could see a clear parallel between the work and ties established during this this second visit between students at Tianjin No. 1 High School and Huntington High School and last June’s two-day summit between People’s Republic of China President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama in Sunnydale, California.

“Since Messrs. Obama and Xi set a tone on their level, exactly in line with the Tianjin-Huntington student-to-student experiences, it can be safely be said that at these two levels, the goals are the same; stepping-up exchanges, cooperation toward win-win results and mutual respect with no confrontation,” Mr. Leavy said.

The second leg of the 12-day journey included a half-dozen days in China’s capital of Beijing. There the Huntington students became even more familiar with the long history and fascinating culture of the country.

Once in a lifetime experience

“This trip was a once in a lifetime experience that I’ll never forget,” said Daniel Mollitor, a Huntington sophomore. “I was paired with a student host family in China and I had the opportunity to spend time with them. I even went to a Chinese wedding for one of their family members. They have many different wedding traditions, such as they don’t dance at their weddings, they have a firework display and the bride changes her dress many times.”

Huntington students hosted their counterparts from Tianjin No. 1 High School in January 2012 in the initial exchange between the two schools. The Chinese students were hosted by local families here, attended high school classes and spent time exploring Huntington village and Long Island before heading into New York City.

The trip this past summer was a learning experience on every level for the Huntington participants. “Food in China is nothing like Chinese food in the U.S.,” Mr. Mollitor said. “I was surprised at how different it was. There were many new flavors that I wasn’t used to, but they were all good. I always heard of people eating insects, so I tried a BBQ scorpion and it wasn’t as bad as you would think.”

Sophomore Kyle O’Brien enjoyed the trip, too. “It was amazing to see the magnificent sights that I learned about in school and to be able to stay with an actual Chinese family so I could have an inside look on what it’s like to live there,” the teenager said.

Mr. O’Brien’s parents, Lisa and Kerry O’Brien said they were “thrilled” their son had an opportunity to travel to China with fellow Huntington students and teachers. “Living with his host family and seeing the sights of Beijing is a once in a lifetime experience,” Mrs. O’Brien said.

Senior Leyda Mata said she had the “time of her life” on the trip. “It was the most wonderful experience of my life,” she said. “I will never forget it, plus I made a new friend in Joyce. It was amazing to see how close we all got. I’ve never met a person like my host Joyce. She was so dedicated to school. Her family was so amazing and welcoming. Overall, it was my favorite part of the trip.

A revolutionary experience

Senior Sam Yanuck said the journey to China was a “revolutionary experience” for him. The teenager said just signing up for the exchange and attending planning meetings were outside the boundaries of his “comfort zone.”    

“Throughout my stay in China, I found myself constantly learning historic facts, broadening my view of the world and learning about life in this nation,” Mr. Yanuck said. “It was weird helping my host, Rey with his English homework one night. He had to fill in missing words that made the most sense in the sentences (which were in English) and then had to write the correct English word. He was pretty good at it.”

One of Mr. Yanuck’s most “profound” experiences on the trip was visiting the Temple of Heaven for an early morning run with Mr. Leavy. “It was a beautifully preserved wonder of ancient China,” the senior said.

“Here we ran on brick paved paths lined with ancient trees,” Mr. Yanuck said about the visit to the legendary site. “As we ran, we saw a number of morning exercises, the most beautiful and moving of which was the writing of poems upon the walkway in water that dried up and disappeared even as they finished. Partaking in this activity were several older men. We came back the next day and saw them again painting these invisible poems with foam brushes. When one of them saw the interest of Mr. Leavy and me he offered his brush to Mr. Leavy. When the man who I think was the leader of this group saw Mr. Leavy trying to write he began to teach him the older ways of writing in Chinese calligraphy. It was so beautiful to me that something wonderful like this could take longer to write than it lasted, drying in the sun’s first rays of the morning.”

Mr. Yanuck said the trip enhanced his “ability to interact with others,” which he feels would not have been possible without Messrs. Leavy and Gould. “China really meant a lot to me,” the teenager said. “Now my mind is always focused on a global level.”

Trip was absolutely amazing

There were no complaints from students who were members of the summer traveling party. “My trip to China was absolutely amazing,” senior Sal Martello said. “It was a once in a lifetime experience. Surprisingly, for being on the other side of the world where a completely different language is spoken, things went well. There weren’t many problems, so overall the trip went smoothly. I was elated to be reunited with the young man whom I hosted when he came to America. I stayed at his house this time. Over the course of the week we spent living together I picked up some Chinese and his English improved immensely. We spoke English exclusively due to the fact that I didn’t speak Chinese. Some of the other students knew a little Chinese however. They had either learned it privately or in Huntington High School’s new class Asian Studies. Those who had taken Asian Studies were more prepared for the journey and experienced less of a culture shock because of the important things they learned in class.”

The Huntington travelers were on the move every day they were in Tianjin. “The city is not very well known in the western world, but in my opinion, rivals Manhattan in many cases,” Mr. Martello said. “Most of the American students got together with their hosts at night and explored the city. We had a good amount of freedom to explore. Fortunately our chaperones were always aware of our locations and never allowed a bad situation to arise. When we went to Beijing, we saw everything one would expect to see when visiting the capital of one of the most prosperous countries in the Orient. I got to experience so many different things, from seeing the Forbidden City to walking the Great Wall!”

Rates trip a perfect 10

Mr. Martello feels the trip was well-organized and long enough to allow participants to effectively experience the “essence” of Chinese culture and customs. “All in all, the trip was magnificent,” he said. “I would go back to China in a heartbeat, or, as a matter of fact, anywhere else in the world if the trip is organized and extensive enough as this trip was.”

Like his fellow student travelers, Mr. Martello cited one part of the trip as his favorite. His was cooking with his host’s grandmother. “I made from scratch delicious dumplings with an old woman who didn’t speak a word of English,” he said. “I asked myself; under what other circumstances could I have been immersed so deeply in such a rich and virtuous culture? My rating of the trip is 10 out of 10. No question about it.”