World Academy Projects
WAFW has a variety of very interesting educational and service programs for Sias students and the local community.
Please take a look at all that we are doing and click on any link to find out more about a specific program.
ACADEMIC LEVELS
The World Academy for the Future of Women began as a one year program for 100 university women from freshman to senior year, to a multi-year, multi-level program for both women and men.Today the Academy has five separate divisions comprised of members from all class levels, freshman through senior year. The division levels are:
- First Year World Academy for the Future of Women (Year 1 women)
- Advanced World Academy for the Future of Women (Year 2 women)
- Men’s Academy for the Future of Women (Year 1 men)
- Advanced Men’s Academy for the Future of Women (Year 2 men)
- World Academy in Action (Year 3 women and men)
World Academy Project’s Video
Members become a team member in one of the World Academy Projects focused on one or more of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals-UN Sustainable Goals. Advanced members may create new projects or enlarge the scope of an existing project.
WORLD ACADEMY PROJECTS
Each member of the World Academy is required to engage in a World Academy Project. The Projects are designed by World Academy members based on a United Nations Millennium or Sustainability Goal.
The Projects enable the Academy members to use:
1) The knowledge and skills they have gained from the curriculum content provided by the World Academy facilitator in their seminars.
2) Their ability to take the Academy content to action through the interactive labs.
3) The coaching they received to resolve issues as they move the content into action.
The Projects serve as an opportunity to take action on a significant issue impacting women, children or their community.
Big Bang Thinking
Big Bang Thinking is devoted to solving problems for all the projects in the World Academy. Our ultimate goal is to develop and use our creative minds in solving world problems related to social injustices, gender equality and human rights. Using the skills of brainstorming, pre-planning, potential problem analysis, and after action review, we select the best ideas for being creative, practical, visionary and getting the best results.
We have worked with members in the Literacy Project on ways to collect more books in the most cost effective manner, allowing us to reach more parents to read with their children. We have worked with members of the Warm Hearts Project and found ways to collect and donate clothes to people in neighboring villages. Sharing Big Bang ideas with the project members brings about more passion, inspiration, creativity and innovation. It also promotes teamwork.
Dream Harbor
The Dream Harbor Project Team is devoted to achieving universal primary education. We have multiple goals for this project. First, we encourage primary school children to continue and complete their education through the high school level. We offer college awareness for those students who have strong academic skills. We work with all students to find their dream and pursue it. At the same time, our team encourages students to ask questions and be good thinkers. Finally, we sponsor local activities that encourage students who have dropped out of school to return and continue their education.
We meet with the children whose parents work in the cafeteria at Sias University. We meet on a weekly basis on campus. We provide follow up to the parents, which allows opportunity to gain greater insight on how to be successful in meeting the needs of individual students.
Free Lunch
The Free Lunch Project Team is committed to helping eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Poverty and hunger are basic and critical problems in China, and our children are the most vulnerable among the entire population. This project raises money, through campus awareness campaigns, to assist children who do not have access to lunch in rural schools in Henan Province and the mountainous areas in China.
Each year the project team raises funds in two ways: through donations from Sias students and faculty, and from local restaurants who encourage their customers to contribute to the Free Lunch project. Thanks to this funding, nearly 2,200 warm lunches have been provided for children in the mountainous area at a cost of ¥3 for each lunch!
Give Voice to Women
The World Academy for the Future of Women is committed to the advancement and acceleration of women’s leadership worldwide. By promoting gender equality and empowering women, we encourage women to take a stand for themselves and other women. We advocate for women to pursue their dreams and achieve equality in their home, community, and work place. The activities include:
• STAND UP, TAKE ACTION, MAKE NOISE an activity originally initiated by the United Nations to bring awareness to the Millennium Development Goals. Our event takes place each fall on Sias campus. The Academy members organize a parade and march through campus speaking out about the UN Millennium Development/Sustainability Goals. We advocate and raise awareness for all of these social issues.
• LEAN IN promotes gender equality, giving women the opportunity to share their experience and help each other pursue happiness and success in life.
• We interview the WAFW facilitators and invite them to share their unique personal and professional experiences. These interviews are recorded and shown on our website. We also record the extraordinary experiences of these ordinary women and publish them on our social media.
• We invite women from all walks of life and different backgrounds to participate in our annual Women’s Symposium and share their experiences.
• We partner with the International Women’s Academy in finding women’s voices in Henan and in China. We put these voice together with the voices of women from different countries in international clubs around the world.
These activities inspire and encourage women to find their voice and make choice in their lives.
Green Sias
Green SIAS addresses environmental sustainability. The project educates students, faculty and the local community members about environmental issues; with the philosophy that starting locally contributes to a global perspective for creating sustainability. Our goals are to improve students’ awareness of the environment at SIAS, and to be a strong voice to the world. such as conserving water, electricity and disposable items including plastic bags, bottles, and boxes.
Green SIAS has three awareness activities. First, The Thousand Signatures Project encouraging college students to take better care of our world by signing a pledge to take action to protect the environment. Second, in The Green Sticker we offer green stickers to the students who bring us plastic bottles to recycle, so “Green” will be seen throughout the campus. The last activity, Earth Hour, a worldwide activity, encourages students to turn off the lights during a specifically designated time so that we can save energy and reduce our carbon footprint.
Because we are committed to being a voice to the world, we use social media to challenge other college students to participate in these important activities to recycle and conserve.
HIV / AIDS Awareness
The Project HIV/AIDS Awareness, focuses on eradicating HIV/AIDS. We create awareness for the public to learn and understand about HIV/AIDS. The team strives to educate about prejudice, by helping orphans whose parents are HIV patients, develop confidence and personal power. We partner with Chi Heng Foundation, a community charity, which has helped more than 1400 children with education and job skills.
The project has two big events each year. On International Children’s Day, HIV impacted orphans are invited to Sias campus to enjoy a university campus atmosphere and meet university students. On December 1, World AIDS Day, an art exhibition, a knowledge competition, and a charity bazaar are sponsored for Sias students and the community.
The goal is to promote education and understanding of the impact of HIV/AIDS in Henan Province, It is critical for college age students to understand this issue, as people under the age of 25 account for half of all new HIV/AIDS infections each year worldwide.
Literacy Project
The Literacy Project focuses on achieving primary education. This reading program is designed to encourage parents to read to, and with, their children on a regular basis. Each week our reading activities are held both on and off campus. Team members demonstrate to parents how to read to their children, which stimulates language development and learning. When children love reading, and parents encourage good reading habits, it furthers learning, and helps both the parent and child recognize the value of education. Books are provided by the Literacy Program and Brits Abroad, a Shanghai based ex-pat charity organization. A joint project among Global Interactions, WAFW, Henan Provincial Library and Ben Yuan Foundation has distributed more than 2,000 English books to our children!
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS
This project teaches the value and necessity of generating money. Projects cannot be implemented without a realistic understanding of fiscal responsibility.
Market Place Project
The Market Place Project focuses on running a successful business. This project involves the development and marketing of products, including handicrafts made by local, rural women. We sell these handmade goods and manage the inventory, revenue, and expenses. The Market Place team develops a business plan. Tasks are divided into four departments: marketing, planning, operations, and public relations. The development and practice of critical management skills serves to enhance students’ ability to find good jobs after graduation. The Market Place Project provides funding for World Academy operations and projects.
World Academy Run – Join The Human Race
The second major activity is the 1st World Academy Charity Night Run purposed for the spring semester. Students, faculty, and community residents register to run a course though Sias campus. Each lap of the course represents one major world issue, such as hunger, poverty, gender equality, HIV/AIDS, universal education for children, global partnerships, environmental sustainability, domestic violence. Participants receive a token symbolizing their completion of each lap. Runners who complete all eight laps receive a certificate acknowledging their tribute/commitment to improving conditions for humanity.
Sunshine Angels
The Sunshine Angels Project aims to promote the educational and social development of children with disabilities. We cooperate with Xinzheng Special Education School, where students are 8-15 years old. There are 12 deaf and 60 mentally challenged children at the school. Each Wednesday Academy members go to the school and conduct a project with the children. Each year a seminar, Special Education Experiences & Opportunities, is organized for teachers, professors and parents, which focuses on brain development and teaching pedagogy. The purpose is to provide an opportunity to exchange experiences and gain partnerships in learning how to integrate special needs children into society and communities. The students’ projects on Sias campus are displayed in our community and campus to encourage more people to become aware of these children and their abilities.
Warm Hearts
The Warm Hearts Project is committed to eliminating extreme poverty. Our main activity is to collect clothes and donate them to people in poor regions. We distribute these things each fall through several primary schools. Our goal is to keep families warm and healthy throughout the winter, allowing children to have sufficient clothing to attend school.
In the spring, we re-establish communication with students from these schools to give encouragement to young children. We teach them social media skills as a means to broaden their world and to stay connected with us.
Our efforts improve the quality of people’s lives by satisfying the demands of basic life. Our vision is to assist people in solving problems of social poverty and improve their well-being.