News From Our Community: Choosing a Major & Career Workshop
Current and past Connexpedition members are invited to join us on Sunday, February 21st, for an informative and approachable conversation about choosing a college major and career. If you’re still deciding what you want to do in college and beyond, this is the workshop for you!
Current and past Connexpedition members are invited to join us on Sunday, February 21st, for an informative and approachable conversation about choosing a college major and career. If you’re still deciding what you want to do in college and beyond, this is the workshop for you! We’ve invited seven of our wonderful alumni from Connexpedition 2013 through 2015 to share their personal experiences with their respective college major and career paths.
RSVP on our community: community.connexpedition.com/events/choosing-a-majorcareer
Sunday, February 21, 2021
3:00pm - 5:00pm PST
Zoom Meeting (RSVP to receive Zoom information)
Introducing our Alumni Panel for our 2nd college workshop: Choosing a Major & Career!
News From Our Community: College Apps Workshop
Thank you everyone for attending the first part of our college workshop series! It was a huge success and we hope you learned a lot from this panel and feel more confident when approaching college applications!
All Connexpedition members past and present are invited to exclusive events and workshops throughout the year. The COVID-19 pandemic has put many of our planned events on hold, but we started the new year with a useful and informative workshop about the college application process.
The topics we covered on Sunday:
When should I start/general application timeline
Applying to public vs. private vs. community (Creating your college list)
UC Application Brief Overview (e.g. writing UC essays)
CommonApp Brief Overview (e.g. writing personal statements, short answer)
Extracurriculars/Service Hours (e.g. do they actually matter?, how to split connex hours, etc)
Letters of rec (e.g. how to ask, who to ask, etc)
Dual enrollment (courses, credits, and other tips)
AP/SAT/SAT II/ACT Scores (e.g. when to send, is it an optional requirement?, etc)
Thank you to our panelists for sharing their experiences with us! Please do not hesitate to reach out to any of the panel members if you have any further questions. Also, keep an eye out for part two of this workshop series coming soon in February.
Connexpedition 2021: Apply Today!
We are excited to announce that applications for this summer’s service trip are open today. We are currently accepting applications from high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Seattle Area. The deadline to apply is February 20, 2021.
We are excited to announce that applications for this summer’s service trip are open today.
Since 2011, more than a total of 450 high school students have volunteered in Taiwan with Connexpedition, teaching English and sharing their American culture while exploring the traditions, lifestyle, and values of the island nation. We hope you will decide to join us this year as we embark on the tenth year of our program!
Program information and full application procedures can be found on our website at www.connexpedition.com/apply. Please read through our program application packet carefully to understand various qualifications, application procedures, and possible responses to COVID-19 this summer.
Please feel free to share this message with any friends or family members who you think may be interested. We are currently accepting applications from high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Seattle Area. The deadline to apply is February 20, 2021. We look forward to reviewing your application!
Please do not hesitate to email us at connexpedition@wceo.org if you have any questions.
Our First Community Fundraiser: Connexpedition x USPS Operation Santa 2020
This holiday season, we have decided as a community to raise funds to adopt letters to Santa as a part of the United States Postal Service's annual Operation Santa® program. With your help, we will adopt letters asking for new shoes, clothes, and other basic necessities.
Connexpedition is a volunteer program created by Wisdom Culture and Education Organization that brings together high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle metropolitan area. In the summer, we travel to Taiwan to teach English in developing communities, directly impacting thousands of children each year.
While we were unable to embark on our volunteer trip this summer, our commitment to service remains the same. This year, we have invited all 450+ alumni of our program to join us as we turn our community of volunteers into a force for good.
This holiday season, we have decided as a community to raise funds to adopt letters to Santa as a part of the United States Postal Service's annual Operation Santa® program. Each year, hundreds of thousands of letters are sent to Santa from children and families around the country. USPS Operation Santa makes it possible for individuals and organizations to adopt these letters and send responses and thoughtful gifts in Santa’s place. With your help, we will adopt letters asking for new shoes, clothes, and other basic necessities.
100% of your contribution will go towards the purchase of gifts, postage, and administrative costs for this holiday drive.
We hope you will consider helping us extend our impact by contributing to our first ever community fundraiser. Help us reach our ambitious goal of 100 letters adopted this holiday season. Our success will translate to even more fundraisers and service events that help provide our volunteers with the means to excel as community leaders while directly helping children and families in our own neighborhoods.
Learn more about USPS Operation Santa® 2020: https://www.uspsoperationsanta.com
Learn more about Connexpedition: https://connexpedition.com
We will publish a report on our website with the final expenditures and results of this holiday drive.
Learn more about Wisdom Culture and Education Organization: https://wceo.org
Wisdom Culture and Education Organization is not affiliated nor endorsed by the United States Postal Service or USPS Operation Santa® 2020.
Wisdom Culture and Education Organization is a tax-exempt non-profit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, Employer Identification Number (EIN) 94-3353598. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Fundraiser Report
Total donations received: $531.63
Credit card and platform fees: $50.41
Target gift cards to Operation Santa recipients: $250.00
Postage: $38.75
Donation to Family Giving Tree Holiday Wish Drive: $192.47
Repost published on December 29, 2020.
Making the Most of our Circumstances - Beginning Online Lessons
We are extremely proud to be working with 50 members of Connexpedition 2020 to continue the spirit of the program despite the circumstances that prevented them from serving in Taiwan this summer.
We are extremely proud to be working with 50 members of Connexpedition 2020 to continue the spirit of the program despite the circumstances that prevented them from serving in Taiwan this summer.
This week, we started our first online lessons with the students of New Taipei City! These students were originally planning to attend our English summer camp. The online phase of the program normally follows the camp, but because of the challenges presented by COVID-19, we will mentor these students online first and hopefully get to see them in-person next summer instead.
Summer 2020 Trip Postponed to 2021
We are extremely fortunate to have you as a part of our family and are extremely proud of what we have already accomplished together.
Dear Connexpedition 2020 Members,
Today we write to you knowing that this is not the news you were hoping to hear. We understand that you were all looking forward to the opportunity to travel to Taiwan and serve the students of New Taipei City alongside new friends this summer. While disappointing, we hope you can understand our decision to postpone this summer's trip.
The shelter-in-place order in our local counties and the state of California has had a detrimental impact to our training progress.
Moreover, our decision will put first the health and safety of the hundreds, if not thousands, of people our program impacts: you and your family, the students of New Taipei City and their families, our staff, and the faculty and administrative staff of the New Taipei City school district.
A number of restrictions informed our decision to postpone the trip:
Taiwan CDC imposed restrictions on indoor gatherings > 100 persons. The date of lifting these restrictions currently remains to be decided.
Taiwan has barred all foreign visitors (non-Taiwanese passport holders) from entering the country effective March 19. The date of lifting the entry restriction currently remains to be decided.
Any traveler arriving from outside Taiwan and granted entry are subject to a 14-day home quarantine.
While strict shelter-at-home orders from the Office of the Governor in California will last until the end of May, we do not expect to be allowed to host large gatherings in June based on the governor's new four-stage plan to ease social-distancing requirements. We will be unable to host the necessary in-person training sessions in May and June to prepare for our trip.
Additional interpretations of the ongoing situation were also taken into consideration:
The wearing of masks in Taiwan is not only viewed as a courtesy, but a responsibility to others during this time. Wearing masks in warmer environments for extended periods of time may put our volunteers and students at risk of heat-related illnesses.
Most travel medical insurance plans have an exclusion for coverage related to epidemics or pandemics if a travel warning for the destination country has been issued for a certain number of days prior to the travel period.
Anyone at our service location (not limited to volunteers and students) developing symptoms of COVID-19, regardless of actually contracting the disease, will suspend our service in Taiwan indefinitely and cause severe disruptions to any travel plans. This will result in the possibility of needing to cancel flights, additional costs for room and board, and extraneous medical expenses.
The decision to postpone our service trip now will allow us to begin organizing our contingency plan. This will give you, our members, more time and information to make an informed decision regarding your participation in the revised Connexpedition 2020 program.
We are extremely fortunate to have you as a part of our family and are extremely proud of what we have already accomplished together during these unprecedented times. As mentioned previously, your commitment and efforts will not go to waste, and we invite you to participate in our revised Connexpedition 2020 program. The specific details of the new program will be announced to you soon via email.
In the meantime, we will continue to remain in communication with you and your families and provide opportunities for distance learning and bonding with your teammates. As always, we are available via email should you have any questions or concerns.
We wish you and your family good health in the coming weeks and months.
Sincerely,
Tswei-Ping Wu
Vice Director, WCEO
David Huang
Program Coordinator-TW
Brian Chen
Program Coordinator-US
Sophie Lam
Program Manager