This weekend, CCIP exchange visitors took part in the annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival (www.hkdbf-ny.org) held in Flushing Meadows' Corona Park in New York City. Started in 1990, the Dragon Boat Festival is an annual multicultural sporting event held to celebrate the fifth month of the lunar calendar. FUSIA Communications, the organizer of CCIP, supports the event as a creative sponsor. The festival also provides visitors with traditional Chinese foods and performances.

Team co-captain Yuhao, a student at Nanyang Technological University, said, "We worked hard to demonstrate teamwork and our commitment to showing that CCIP participants are team-oriented and full of can-do energy." The team made a strong showing considering their inexperience. "We had to come together quickly as a team and train as if we had experience," he added.

Each student wore a unique t-shirt featuring the slogan "We're all in the same boat," symbolizing the cultural diversity and cooperation needed to achieve the great things that the program inspires.

Team co-captain Dan, also a student at Nanyang Technological University, added, "We are in the same boat as participants in CCIP, and we are all very happy to have been a part of the program and the dragon boat team!"

The weekend was a success for all of the student-racers and student-volunteers as well as the CCIP program as a whole. Many students also helped to tend the booths at the festival. They took the opportunity to mingle with festival guests and make new friends as well as share elements of Asian culture.

"This was my first time to be part of such a large event. It took a lot of preparation, but the result was so enjoyable. Attendees loved stopping by our booth," said team manager Holly, a student at Hang Seng Management College.

Alice, the booth manager and a student at Hong Kong University, agreed, saying, "The booth was so much fun. We really got to know so many people from the community who were happy we were here."

CCIP participants are looking forward to staying busy for the remainder of August with planned trips to see Broadway's Les Miserables and an upcoming volunteering event at Cunningham Park.