From November 12 to 19, 2015, Wenzhou-Kean University student Xia Xue attended the 23th APEC Youth Camp in the Philippines as a Voice of the Future Chinese youth representative. When she returned to the university on November 20, she immediately transferred into her busy student life: making up exams, finishing homework and writing papers.

This past July, Xue, together with another two students from Peking and Fudan Universities, stood head and shoulder above the other three thousand students during the Voice of the Future selection activity. Based on one week of intense competition, they were selected as the student representatives and they would attend the APEC meeting in the Philippines in November.

On November 12, Philip Connelly, Vice President for Operations of Kean University, together with some students, sent Xue off to Manila at the airport. He said, “We are so proud of you, Xia. While Xia is clearly in a league of her own, like her, each and every student at WKU is a pioneer. They are the first in their families and first in China to experience a truly global education. It is no surprise to me that Xia is here today. Our students are the global leaders of tomorrow.”

According to Xue, she had a fully packed week during her time in the APEC Youth Camp, including lectures and various activities. She visited the Asian Development Bank and local social enterprises, talked to the APEC Business Advisory Council and attended the APEC CEO Summit. Xue didn’t get enough sleep due to this tight schedule, but the week was quite fruitful and productive. Working together with her team, she made an address at the 2015 APEC Voices of the Future Youth Forum. Her speech focused on green economy, calling on the green financial system to help small-middle enterprises (SMEs) with their financing, while the SMEs have the obligation and initiative to develop or invest in green industries. At the APEC CEO Summit, Xue got a chance to meet world leaders such as President Xi Jinping, President Barack Obama and business leader Jack Ma.

Xue also brought Chinese Youth's Most Concerned Social issues to APEC. Before she set off, both Wenzhou-Kean University and China Youth Daily launched the Call for Proposal, 2015 Chinese Youth's Most Concerned Social Issues. The activity started from late October through November 8, 2015. Young people from 23 provinces, such as Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin, participated in this event, and 111 social issues have been collected. After voting, the five most prominent issues were: peace and war, mobile phone addiction, aging populations, teaching quality of university education and air pollution.

During the APEC Youth Camp, Xue kept a daily public diary, sharing her stories, feelings and thoughts. Once she wrote in the diary, “We all live in a globalized world. This provides us opportunities to get to know each other, learn to be tolerant and develop a friendship crossing national borders. The world is so large that everyone is like a drop in the ocean, but everyone can make their own contribution to the world. Understand other people’s experience and emotion and be a sincere, compassionate and plain person.”

Wenzhou-Kean University awarded Xue the Kean International Award for 50,000RMB (7,809.20 US dollars).This award is established by the Kean International Education Development Center, in honor of students or faculty who have made great contributions or made great achievements in academics, teaching, innovation or entrepreneurship. In total, 1,000,000RMB (156,180 US dollars) will be donated from the Wenzhou-Kean University Foundation to fund this award. The Kean International Education Development Center is dedicated to provide language training, overseas education consulting, preschool education and K-12 education system support.