Ashley Jorgensen
BYU’s Chinese Flagship Program is looking to involve students in the opportunities it offers by holding a festival this week on campus.
The Moon Festival will be held in the Joseph Fielding Smith Building courtyard Thursday, from 5-7 p.m. The purpose of the event is to promote the Chinese Flagship Program and recruit more involvement. This special night will have entertainment, art and music that will set it apart from the many other events held on campus throughout the year. There will be a lantern decorating station, fan decorating, a calligraphy station, Chinese music with live entertainment and a traditional dragon dance performed by students in the program.
[/media-credit]
Many students do not know about the opportunities that this program offers. Through the program, students study Chinese along with their chosen major at BYU. Chinese vocabulary and the culture within the student’s chosen major will be studied in preparation for a trip to China. After studying Chinese and preparing to go, students are sent to China to complete an internship with a Chinese company directly.
“It is a great program for any student looking to infuse their education with a marketable skill,” Mueller said. “The program teaches students how to succeed linguistically and culturally in the Chinese professional world.”
With the combination of studying here on campus and receiving first-hand experience in China, students are then able to succeed in Chinese within a chosen field. The Chinese Flagship Program welcomes students from all majors. Whether it is education, business, physics or engineering, the program can help any student to qualify to work with Chinese in their field of study.
“China has the fastest growing economy in the world, and the language is very prominent here in the United States,” Mueller said. “It opens doors for a career path after graduation.”
Students do not have to plan on working in China to be a part of this program. Students have qualified for many jobs here in the U.S. that the Chinese Flagship Program prepared them for.
“The program is designed to create global professionals,” Mueller said.
