Chinese Visitors Enjoy Week of Challenge Camp in Rye

If you think local traffic is bad, you should try driving in Shanghia, China. That is what Wong Jiacheng, an 11-year-old Chinese boy attending Challenge Camp in Rye this week, will tell you.

“I like the traffic here,” said Jiacheng in well-spoken English when asked if he is enjoying his time in the United States.

“In Shanghai the traffic is so bad. Many people don’t stop at red lights and it is not safe to walk in the streets,” said Jiacheng, who goes by the English name Alex here. It is a name he picked as a four-year-old in kindergarten when he first learned to speak English.

Jiacheng is one of 16 children from Shangai, China who have attended Challenge Camp at the School of the Holy Child in Rye this week. The children are part of a program that started at the camp four years ago designed to bring high academic achieving Chinese students to Challenge Camp, which is for local children in grades K through 9 who are high academic achievers. The camp programs expose the 170 campers to many different disciplines. The children choose several classes from 100 different courses in arts, technology, music, sports and more.

The Chinese children arrived on Sunday, July 7 and will leave Saturday, July 13. Eight families from Rye, Larchmont, Scarsdale, White Plains and New Rochelle whose children attend Challenge Camp volunteered to host two Chinese children for the week. Jiacheng is staying with the Lefever family of Larchmont.

 “Not only do we want them to learn in our courses, but we want them to be integrated into American culture,” said Carole Berman, Executive Director of the Camp.

Jiacheng said he is learning more about computers here than what he learns at school in China.

His favorite course is Circuit City, taught by Geoffrey Byrne, where kids learn about the inner workings of computers. As far as American culture, he has also enjoyed America’s salty food, fast food and said American people are more polite and willing to help and engage children than Chinese people.

“I would like to live in America,” Jiacheng said. “It feels better. The people are more polite.”

Anika Agarwal, a 12-year-old Scarsdale resident and camper, has been hosting two Chinese girls for the week and enjoying her new company, she said.

“They don’t seem to be jet lagged or tired, they are willing to do anything,” she said of her guests. “They are nothing like what I have read in history fiction books about the Communist revolution,” Anika said. “They are very open to our lifestyle.”

Challenge Camp has been in operation for 33 years and the Chinese program started four years ago after Berman traveled to China and met with the principal of the Shanghai Aiju Art School to discuss the idea. She worked with Dr. Elizabeth Y. Xie of the Shanghai UAB Education Consulting Co. in Shanghai to make the program happen. Dr. Xie and two other Chinese representatives are on the campsite every day, taking photos to send back to the parents and for the children.

They hope to eventually create a full exchange program where American campers will have the opportunity to visit China while the Chinese students attend Challenge Camp.

For more information on Challenge Camp, check out their website here.