Project Page

Project Name Western Dream Team
Objective To promote development of the West through child education

• Project Information

  University	Team	Location
  Xiamen University	36 students	Guizhou Province

• Challenge

  China’s “Wild West” is a vast, largely undeveloped rural region that is decades behind its eastern counterpart. Due to poverty and lack of economic development, many children are losing educational opportunities, pushing them further towards the edges of civilization.

• Solution

  Our “Dream of the West” is somewhat opposite of that in 19th century America, where people flocked westward in search of opportunity, prosperity, and simply a better life. Our dream is to develop the West by starting with education for children in the Western mountainous regions. Education is key to long-term, sustainable economic development, and we will focus on MaShan village in Guizhou province. Our project will take two steps: to better understand the current situation in MaShan, our team will conduct a series of surveys and interviews to assess the level of educational and economic development in the village. Based on our data, we will then create a 10-year plan (subject to modification) on educational needs, such as strengthening the school system, recruiting high-quality teachers, setting up scholarships, building libraries, and so on. We will also embark on an aggressive fundraising strategy to secure funds to support our efforts.

• Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/ynzhphoto/200830#    Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpzuajMJf3o