2019 Capstone China through Cultural and Environmental Lenses

May 26 - June 2, 2021
Focuses: Service Learning, Cultural Immersion
With more citizens that any other country and a continuous history extending back millennia, China is one of the world’s most ancient, complex, and intriguing civilizations. It fascinates us with its unique ecology, its expanding global reach, and its innovative experimentation. This Cavalier Capstone will provide you with an opportunity to immerse yourselves in distinct facets of Chinese culture through two unique service-learning opportunities. One of these will be centered on East Asian cultural immersion through interaction with kindergarten students at a Beijing grammar school. The other will take place in a vast bamboo forest in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. This is home to the giant panda and will be grounded in environmental science fundamentals from a global perspective. This capstone is highly interactive and will be supplemented with learning through guided readings and group discussion focused on Chinese history and environmental restoration efforts.