Beijing Center welcomes Columbia undergraduates Class of 2023
Every year, a welcome event for Columbia new undergraduates at the Beijing Center is designed to give the unique opportunity to new students and their parents to meet with their fellows and to experience Columbia before they arrive on campus.
On July 6, the Beijing Center, in collaboration with GCC Columbia, hosted a gathering for the incoming Class of 2023 of Columbia College and Columbia Engineering and their parents, with many current students, alumni, and parents participating.
The program started with opening remarks by Helena XIAO, Assistant Director of the Beijing Center, and Portia Wang SEAS ’22, GCC Representative. XIAO gave a brief introduction on the vision of the Global Centers and hopes the Center continues to provide resources to promote the bilateral engagement of Columbians and local counterparts.
The six-minute history video about Columbia and its long historical connection with China was then played. This history project was launched by the Beijing Center in 2016 and was showcased before every event at the Center, amplifying the significance and impact of Columbia alumni and the University in China.
The program continued with four sessions, including students sharing, alumni sharing, parents sharing, and reception. Tina Shen CC ’20 and Zhouyao XIE CC ’21 spoke on their life at Columbia and in New York.
Alumni representatives Alice ZHANG CC '12, Sebastian CC '19, Peter ZHENG CC '19, Tommy FANG CC '19, Myra DENG SEAS '19, and Cian Saunders CC '19 had a panel discussion, sharing their ideas to their juniors on how to make the best use of the resources of Columbia and New York for personal development.
Parents representatives Fang FANG, Tong ZHANG, and Lin SUO shared their ways to provide support and encouragement to their children.
During the reception, students and alumni further engaged with each other through an ice breaker game, while parents had an informal discussion with Xin PENG, then Executive Director and CFO of Columbia Global Centers.
The welcome event was followed by a piano recital by Nansong HUANG CC '16. For more information about the recital, please click here.