Aside from having fun or working, what else are university students up to during the summer vacation? Students from Taipei Chengshih University of Science and Technology (TPCU) led nearly 200 vocational high school students in experiencing what it is like to be a university student, while students in clubs at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) traveled to Taiwan’s rural areas and outlying islands to do volunteer work, helping Aborigines repair damaged electrical appliances.
TPCU’s College of Business and Management organized a two-day “Information Sciences Camp,” bringing together more than 30 teacher and student volunteers for nearly 200 vocational high school students from Yilan County’s Loudong Township, who stayed in the university dorms. The courses they taught allowed students to experience university life firsthand, teaching them about cloud computing as well as how to make computer games and electronic books.
Lu Shao-yu, a third-year student in the Department of Information Management who served as a volunteer instructor, laughed as he said that it is a unique experience to guide the other students, and also a great way to grow as an individual. Offering the example of the first time they met with the vocational high school students from Luodong, he said everyone was quite shy, so he prepared some games to make them feel more at ease.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者洪美秀
The camp group also went to Taipei Port to observe its logistical processes, which included ships entering the port, unloading their shipments, separating goods into groups and packaging them, as well as the process of making sure the goods get to their intended destination. Every aspect of this complex process had to be completed with the utmost accuracy in a very short period of time. Not only were the vocational students surprised at how impressive the process was, the volunteer instructors also gained a lot from the experience.
Students from NTUST have gone a bit farther, traveling around Taiwan and abroad. Around 100 students are participating in the summer volunteer program. Students from the school’s piano club are teaching children piano in Taipei, while those going abroad are serving as volunteers in northern Thailand, teaching children English, math and Chinese in the mountains at very high altitudes.
NTUST’s Lu La La Recreational and Educational Club has gone to Chipei Island in the Penghu archipelago to hold a “Handy Renewable Energy Camp,” where they are helping children improve their community environment, and teaching them how to make toys and decorations from recyclable products. The school’s Social Service Club has gone to a Seediq village in Nantou County’s Jenai Township to help repair damaged electrical appliances. They have collected more than 100 electrical appliances from local residents.
The club sent 40 students to the village, and although most of them have a background in electrical engineering, they still had quite a lot to brush up on when it came to their repairing skills. They fixed an old radio that was over 20 years old. It had been part of a local resident’s life over the years, and it was quite moving when they were able to make it work again.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
大學生放暑假,除了玩樂和打工,還忙些什麼?台北城市科技大學學生帶領近兩百位高職生搶先體驗大學生活。台灣科技大學的學生社團則發起偏鄉離島服務,為山地部落家戶修護損壞電器。
台北城市科大商管學院規劃兩天一夜「資訊科學營」、動員超過三十位師生義務參與,近兩百位羅東高商學生全都住進大學宿舍,課程還包括雲端運算、電腦遊戲、電子書製作等,實際體驗大學生活。
擔任輔導員的資管系大三生呂紹宇笑說,擔任帶領者的經驗很特別,也是自己的一大成長。他舉例,第一次和羅東高商學生見面時,彼此都很害羞,他還準備小活動和小遊戲以化解尷尬。
該營隊還赴台北港實際參訪物業流程,從貨船進港、卸貨、分批裝貨、到各碼頭物流分類到指定運送等過程,所有複雜流程得在短時間內精準完成,不只營隊學生驚呼「好厲害」,營隊輔導員也收穫滿滿。
台科大學生更是國內外走透透,有百名大學生參與暑期服務,例如鋼琴社在台北教孩童彈琴,國際志工社還遠赴泰北擔任國際志工,在高海拔的山上教孩童英文、數學和華文等。
台科大嚕啦啦康輔社則在澎湖吉貝島舉辦「巧手再生營」,協助孩童進行社區環境改造、將環保廢棄物改造為玩具和裝飾品。社會服務團今年則前往南投縣仁愛鄉的賽德克族聚落協助維修毀損電器,共收了上百件居民的電氣用品。
社服團共出動四十名學生,即使多是電機電子等工程背景,還是得惡補維修技術,現場修好一個超過二十年的老舊收音機,陪著居民走過歲月回憶的老舊收音機恢復功能,讓對方也相當感動。
(自由時報記者陳怡靜)
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