Iolani Chinese language teacher, Rebecca Lin, far right, leads Iolani students on a climb at the Great Wall of China | Photo courtesy Iolani School

It’s been nearly a decade since my first trip to China, thanks to a fellowship from the East-West Center. So it was interesting and fun to talk with some lucky high school students who are participating an exchange program with Iolani School in Honolulu and the High School Attached to Tsinghua University in Beijing.

It’s all part of the cover story for Iolani School magazine on Global Vision: Creating Leaders Through Friendships.

“Both of our schools are the kind of schools that are educating leaders of the future,” says Dr. Timothy Cottrell, Iolani’s Head of School, who believes the exchange program is a modern continuance of an important legacy. “Iolani’ is the school that educated a young Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, our most famous student.”

Sun left China to study  in Hawaii at Iolani from 1879-1882. “The impact Iolani made on Dr. Sun, who eventually returned to China with ideas of democracy, is a special and unique aspect of our history and also serves as a root of our mission, which is to educate leaders of the future,” says Dr. Cottrell.

Sun lead the revolution that ended imperial rule in China in 1911, and he is now known as the Father of Modern China.

The cover of Iolani School magazine features a statue of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen on its campus

The mission of the Iolani and Tsinghua Exchange Program is to help prepare students for global citizenship by enhancing learning about different cultures and international relations. You can read the whole story here.

Zhang Wei Xuan from Tsinghua & Arnold Chang from Iolani in front of Dr. SunYat-Sen’s statue | Photo Courtesy Iolani School

Related:

An Iolani Friendship Goes A Long Way: Sun Yat-Sen and Chang Chau