tudents taking part in the Sino-American Youth Ambassadors (SAYA) program started their journey to the US on January 31 as the first participants of the cultural exchange program.

After President Obama's visit to China last year, the Ameson Foundation launched a new program to follow the call of promoting more cultural exchanges between the youth of China and the US. The SAYA program aims to build cultural exchanges and mutual understanding between high school students in the two countries.

Altogether 14 students from Shanghai, Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces were selected by the Ameson Foundation to be Chinese youth ambassadors in US. The students are between 15-17 years old, and all of the students are a part of Ameson's US High School Program at top high schools in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province. Their 2-week visit to the US includes a one-week study exchange at Belmont High School in Belmont, Massachusetts followed by a study tour to historical and contemporary landmarks in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C..

During the exchange program, each youth ambassador will be paired with a student from Belmont High School as their partner, or "buddy." They will stay with host families and study with the high school students at Belmont High School. Besides academic exchanges, each of them has prepared a presentation about local customs and Chinese culture, with topics including traditional Chinese architecture, Peking opera, Tai Chi, martial arts, tea-drinking and the upcoming World Expo in Shanghai. In addition, the “China photo exhibits" will be on display at Belmont High School to showcase images that represent essential elements of Chinese culture.

To help them better prepare for the SAYA program, a briefing meeting and presentation rehearsal was held by Ameson at Gezhi High School on January 30 in Shanghai. The youth ambassadors and their families from different cities around China met for the first time and got to know each other. They received advice for living and studying in the U.S. and also American history and politics from lecturers invited by the Ameson Foundation. Ms. He Shuyin, an AP teacher at Ameson and the team leader of the program, also attended the event.

For many of the students, this will be their first trip abroad. They were thrilled to become a youth ambassador and are looking forward to not only sharing facets from both traditional and contemporary Chinese culture with their counterparts but also embracing the US culture and bringing back a global perspective.

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