Our new intern, Anastasia Levina, sought out community members for the scoop on two of this weekend’s best events, the YCIS Global Community Day and BCIS’ Spring in the City.
YCIS Beijing Global Community Day
The Yew Chung International School of Beijing (YCIS) is proud to announce its biggest annual event, Global Community Day, which has become a tradition for eight years.
The representatives of YCIS Parent Organization, Annique Claussen and Jenny Chang, kindly agreed to tell us more about this year’s special day.
The Parent Organization is responsible for student activities both inside and outside of the school. A charity fund called “YCIS Seeds of Hope” will receive all profits made.
Chang noted that each year grows a bit larger, with last year’s attendance topped 2000 visitors. She believes due to their social media activities and welcoming attitude.
Global Community Day organizers prepared plenty of entertainment, from student Orchestra performances, parents’ dancing show, secondhand book sale, to booths with educational and healthcare representatives with their own games. Many stands include homemade food prepared by YCIS members. Student Council came up with the idea of a Fun(d) Run – a short distance marathon, aimed to earn some means for Seeds of Hope fund.
Traditionally, students split up into regional or cultural groups, each with their own booths and showing what they believe best represents their origin: from national clothes to delicacies to art. “That tends to represent the most distinguishing features of our school culture – we are strong in arts, literally international, and our students are very talented and ambitious,” commented Claussen.
As for the organization process, it took a long time to prepare everything! “The main concern left for now, though, is a sunny weather,” Chang smiled . “I think it is crucial for the school to have events like this. Global Community Day strongly emphasizes the community spirit of school through the run-up, and makes it very lively and harmonic.”
Free. 10am to 2pm. Saturday, May 14. Yew Chung international School of Beijing. Honglingjin Park, 5 Houbalizhuang, Chaoyang District. 朝阳区后八里庄5号红领巾公园东门. (8583 3731; enquiry@bj.ycef.com; http://www.ycis-bj.com)
BCIS Opens Doors for Spring in the City Community Fair
Spring in The City, taking place this Saturday, is Beijing City International School’s most highlighted event of the school year. We talked to Jing Zhang, the marketing communications manager at BCIS, about the upcoming event.
This year’s theme, The Festival of the Arts, is intended to celebrate the cultural identity of BCIS while showing off its pupils’ talents and achievements.
BCIS Spring Fair will have plenty of activities for all ages, including games, performances, booths related to education, healthcare, and even jewelry. Visitors can choose from a wide variety of Chinese and Western food or try something more unfamiliar to the Beijinger palate, like Indian cuisine. All the money received on Saturday will go to a charity fund picked by BCIS.
A wide range of student organizations will represent the social life of BCIS. Parents will no doubt be interested in the Student Council booth, which will provide information about BCIS from a student point of view. Other societies represented include Banana Arts, which will bring over 300 artworks by students, Writing Club, and Film Club International.
“We have a fully scheduled stage, which means that all our grades will give their own performances, having a chance to represent themselves. This year students also wrote a Spring City song, that will hopefully become one of the event’s mainstays,” Jing explained.
“All these public activities stimulate students to be confident, independent and creative,” Jing added. Students put a lot of effort into researching how to make everything happen in the best way. For example, the marketing department used some of their findings for the event strategy development. Second grade students drew a poster that’s been widely usedfor BCIS Spring promotion. Visitors will be able to buy a student-designed Spring City T-shirt.
Jing commented that the biggest difference between previous fairs is the professional improvements. They’re using more social media, with leading accounts on WeChat, Twitter, Facebook, WeiBo and other social media resources. Moreover, there’s a new feature enabling followers to receive a personal invitation by post that will be delivered right to their doorstep. All this, of course, leads to a higher expected attendance, estimated at 2500-3000 people.
Free. 11am to 3 pm, Saturday, May 14. Main campus, Beijing City International School, 77 Baiziwan Nan Er Lu, Chaoyang District. 朝阳区百子湾南二路77 (8771 7171; admissions@bcis.cn ; http://www.bcis.cn)
