Education for children is one of the largest concerns for families in China – success in school can determine the future for the entire family. Because of this, children of all ages carry extreme levels of stress. Evergreen’s youth programs support families by providing opportunities for students to step outside of the academic pressure to play with peers, explore new activities, and grow in life skills and character.
Historically, Evergreen’s work with youth has fallen into two categories:
Adventure Camps
Evergreen’s Joy in the Journey Camp (JJ Camp) programs were adventure-based and interactive, providing a safe environment for youth to grow as whole people and make lifetime friendships. During school holidays, we offered a week-long overnight camp experience in Yangqu, giving kids a life-changing experience of adventure activities, zany games, and leadership development year after year. The majority of our campers returned many times, and our greatest joy was to see their growth from visit to visit, as well as the growth in the lives of each college-aged Chinese volunteer who joins the JJ Camp family. Also, the time spent together at camp carried over into the school year as, twice monthly, we invited campers, college-aged volunteers, and their friends to join us for activities in Taiyuan.
Shanxi Evergreen International Students (SEIS)
From the very beginning, our Founders were concerned about the education and healthy development of the children of expatriates working in Shanxi. Shanxi’s economic development has benefited immensely from the contributions of foreign experts, but with no international school for their children, expatriate workers with families struggled to work long-term in the province.
Providing facilities, curriculum resources, and both local and expatriate teachers, Evergreen has worked hard over the last 30 years to meet the needs of the families of professional workers from around the world eager to work in Shanxi. On the donate page please choose “Project” and specify “SEIS” as the beneficiary.
SEIS strives to:
- prepare students mentally, socially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually to live godly lives in Chinese and home-country societies,
- equip students to interact comfortably with Chinese people, and
- aid students in making a smooth transition to their home country and higher education.
If you are interested in being part of this work, please contact us for more information.
