CSGC
The Deerfield Center for Service and Global Citizenship (CSGC) helps students turn their interests into meaningful service projects, including through its Summer Grant for student-designed projects.
The two projects described below reflect my involvement in these opportunities: TA Shanghai, which I took part in during ninth grade, and the Wetland Project, which I joined in tenth and eleventh grades. Through these experiences, I was able to turn my interests into hands-on service, collaborate with others, and contribute meaningfully to the community.
Wetland
Summer 2025 & 2026
Over the summer after my sophomore year, I received the Deerfield CSGC summer grant, a budget of $300, to travel to Chongming Dongtan and document the wetland’s beauty, and the pollution threatening it, which pushed me from simply observing to joining hands-on cleanup efforts. Wanting to turn awareness into action, I partnered with a local school art club to run workshops where children responded to my photos through drawing and painting. I then presented my work and reflections back to my school community.
TA Shanghai
Summer 2024
I grew up in Shanghai. It was in this city that I witnessed the devastating turn of events during COVID-19. Covid lockdowns forced many people to abandon their pets, and public awareness of stray-animal welfare remains limited despite expanding rescue efforts. During the summer after my freshman year, supported by a $200 Deerfield CSGC summer grant, I collaborated with TA Shanghai, a local nonprofit I had worked with since sixth grade, to document rescues and educate the public through photography and social media videos. Using grant-funded filming equipment, I joined volunteer activities, worked alongside rescuers, and began editing my first video.
