Youth Summer Academy
Statement of Purpose
At VisionArch, we seek to celebrate youth for the unique talents they embody: they are born differently, and we celebrate these individualized gifts that will define their own paths of lifelong growth. In an educational enterprise still stuck in a standardization that reflects a long-forgotten industrial age, the fast-paced world of tomorrow needs creativity wrought out of the multifaceted stories, characters, and dreams.
The purpose of our summer academy is to cultivate and nurture this diversity. Our belief is that to think critically, creatively and independently can lead to a fuller life. Through our program, youth engage in a self-discovery process that cultivates a global perspective, develops holistic social and emotional skills, to achieve excellence towards their own envisioned future.
To do so, our summer academy brings top leaders in the world together to mentor our young people. These mentors all graduated from top universities in the world and bring varied and unique life experience. They will guide students to think through problems and challenges from a new perspective, to develop strong inner fortitude necessary to cultivate a unique alternative path, and to foster a lifelong passion for learning.
The purpose of our summer academy is to cultivate and nurture this diversity. Our belief is that to think critically, creatively and independently can lead to a fuller life. Through our program, youth engage in a self-discovery process that cultivates a global perspective, develops holistic social and emotional skills, to achieve excellence towards their own envisioned future.
To do so, our summer academy brings top leaders in the world together to mentor our young people. These mentors all graduated from top universities in the world and bring varied and unique life experience. They will guide students to think through problems and challenges from a new perspective, to develop strong inner fortitude necessary to cultivate a unique alternative path, and to foster a lifelong passion for learning.
2017 Chengdu Summer Academy Mentors
(Alphabetical order of first name)
(Alphabetical order of first name)
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Bruce Haupt
Bruce graduated with a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is passionate about education, innovation, and mission driven work that creates an impact in his organization and the community. His work is primarily in the public sector where he has served national and local governments; he has also led and participated in various entrepreneurship, technology, and civil society organizations. He currently lives in Muscat, Oman where he works with the government’s Supreme Council for Planning. Prior to his work at the Supreme Council, Bruce consulted for the World Bank on e-government and data analytics in the Middle East and Central Asia. He was a 2006 Harry S. Truman Scholar and a keynote speaker at the 2014 World Bank National Open Data Symposium. |
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Felipe Hernandez
Felipe is currently a 2015 Marshall scholar pursuing an MSc in Comparative Social Policy at the University of Oxford. In 2012, he was recognized as a Harry S. Truman scholar because of his community organizing work via M.E.N.T.E, a non-profit that has helped hundreds of first-generation low-income students attend college. He also managed the Bank on Orange County Initiative with Orange County United Way which helped hundreds of low-income families gain economic stability through pro-bono financial literacy classes and bank accounts. As a 2014 Fulbright Scholar in Colombia he taught English at the Universidad de Ibagúe and established an after-school leadership program for children affected by the ongoing civil war. Since 2015, Felipe has designed programming for Improve Your Tomorrow (IYT), a non-profit college preparatory program for young men of color in south Sacramento. |
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Jordan Burns
Jordan completed her BS in Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, graduating magna cum laude. She received the Colorado Engineering Council's Silver Medal Award, the highest distinction it bestows on a graduating engineering student, and 2014 Harry S. Truman Scholarship. She has previously interned with USAID's Ethiopia Mission in Addis Ababa and managed a partnership with a rural Rwanda community to construct sustainable water systems. After graduation, she worked as a water resources engineer in Colorado, USA, providing design and planning support to both municipal and industrial clients. She recently moved to Washington, D.C., to join the World Bank Inspection Panel as a consultant, using her technical expertise to respond to communities who believe they have been harmed by World Bank-funded projects. |
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Judy Liang
Judy holds a Masters in Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies from Stanford University. She is interested in work that improves education standards and pushes for education equity for all students. Her education career began with an Education Pioneers fellowship where she worked as a project manager for a nonprofit with a STEM focused summer program for low income students. Next, she moved into education research and was engaged in research work that involved assessing K-12 and post secondary policies on student achievement in California. Wanting more hands-on experience with students, she was also involved in mentoring a group of high school students with the product creation processes of ideation, design, prototype, market and sale through an academic entrepreneurship program. She is currently an educator at the Kang Chiao International School in Taipei, Taiwan. |